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409181         «PO 


A  CoiNCi5E  Life  of 


CoNa3E  LiPE  or 

L  George  Dewe/ 


U-5-N 


The  Dewey  Family. 

Admiral  George  Dewey  is  a  Greeu  Mountain  Boy  in  the  best 
sense  of  that  phrase — so  proud  a  title  in  tlje  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people  of  Vermont.  He  was  born  sixty-two  years  ago — December 
26,  1837,  in  Montpelier;  but  the  greater  part  of  his  boyhood  was 
spent  on  the  ancestral  farm  among  the  verdant  hills  of  Berlin 
township  a  few  miles  from  the  city.  Here  lay  his  grandfather's 
farm  and  the  farms  of  other  relatives,  forming  a  little  community 
about  the  crossroads  called  West  Berlin — good  farms,  worth  much 
money,  as  property  was  valued  in  those  days  in  that  rich  region  of 
dairying  and  agriculture.  Down  the  glens  ran  brooks,  filled  with 
trout,  to  feed  an  impetuous  little  stream  called  DogEiver — a  stream 
that  meanders  through  Dewey's  early  history,  and  witnessed  many 
boyish  adventures  that  foreshadowed  the  man  he  was  to  be. 

The  admiral's  grandfather  was  a  man  of  sturdy  race,  the  first 
American  ancestor  of  which,  Thomas  Dewey,  came  to  the  New 
World,  from  Sandwich,  in  Kent,  England,  in  1G3:3.  The  family  is 
said  to  have  been  of  French  Huguenot  stock,  originally — refugees 
in  England  from  the  religious  persecutions  of  the  previous  century; 
and  the  surname  Dewes,   still  sometimes  seen,  is  supposed  to  be 

Copyright,  1899,  by  W.  J.  Lawrence. 


'Z  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

identical  with  theirs.  The  party  to  which  this  earliest  immigrant 
belonged  was  led  by  the  Rev.  John  Warham,  and  at  first  settled  in 
Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  a  Freeman  of  the  colony ;  but 
three  years  later  the  pastor,  Thomas  Dewey,  and  others  of  the  con- 
gregation moved  to  Windsor,  Connecticut — an  exodus  involving 
a  long  march  through  a  perilous  wilderness,  equivalent  in  those 
daj's  to  what  now  is  called  "going  West,"  and  indicative  of  energy 
and  pluck  in  all  that  undertook  it. 

While  he  lived  there,  and  for  ten  or  eleven  j'ears  before  his  death 
in  1648,  his  next  neighbor  was  Matthew  Grant,  the  direct  ancestor  of 
General  U.  S.  Grant. 

It  is  interesting  to  find  how  these  two  men,  so  similar  in  their 
characteristics  and  deeds,  came  from  sources  that  were,  so  to  say, 
cast  in  the  same  mold,  developing  like  characters  by  the  same  stress 
of  circumstances  and  influences,  to  be  transmitted  to  descendants  in 
similar  measure,  and  with  similar  products. 

Windsor,  now  a  quiet,  picturesque  village,  forming  a  quaint  rural 
suburb  to  Hartford,  was  in  those  days  the  outpost  of  civilization, 
and  almost  submerged  in  a  forest  swarming  with  Indians.  The 
most  powerful  of  these  were  the  Pequots,  against  whose  hostilitj^  it 
was  necessary  to  fortify  the  heart  of  the  settlement  bj'  the  building 
of  a  stockade,  within  which  the  people  might  take  refuge.  This 
was  called  at  that  time  "The  Palisado,"  the  English  form  of  the  word 
"palisade"  not  j'et  having  become  naturalized;  and  old  Windsor's 
common  or  "green"  is  called  the  Palisado  to  this  day. 

Some  of  the  settlers,  however,  dwelt  outside  this  protection,  and 
among  tliem  were  Grant  and  Dewey — watchful  for  their  neighbors 
as  well  as  themselves,  and  training  their  sons  into  capable  Indian 
fighters. 

One  of  these  sons  of  Thomas  Dewej^  the  original  ancestor,  was 
Josiab,  who  was  born  at  Windsor,  and  lived  there  until  IGCy'i,  when 
he  moved  with  his  wife  to  Northampton  and  then  to  Westfield, 
Massachusetts.  He  was  the  sergeant  of  the  local  militia,  whose  arms 
were  never  far  from  them  in  that  region  of  hostile  redmen.  Finally  he 
moved  to  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  where  the  family  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  and  was  destined  to  take  deep  root. 

He  died  in  17o"2,  leaving  a  son  of  the  same  name,  Josiab  Dewey. 
Jr.,  who  is  known  to  have  been,  for  a  time,  in  charge  of  one  of  the 
western  outposts  against  French  and  Indian  inroads.     He  married 


THE   DEWEV   FAMILY.  3 

at  NorthamptoD  in   IGOO,  and 

his  son  William  was  born  in 

1691  at  Westfield,  and  died  in 

1759.     He  went  back   to  his 

grandfather's   place    of    resi- 
dence, Lebanon,  Connecticut, 

where  there  was  born  to  him 

Simeon  Dewey,  who  spent  his 

life  there,    and    married,    but 

died  comparatively  young   in 

1757.      His    son    (there   we^e 

others,    but    we    are    tracing 

only  the  line  of  descent  which 

leads  to  our  hero)  was  another 

"William,  who,  at  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  war,  moved 

with  his  family  to  Hanover,  jji^  j  y.  dewkv, 

New     Hampshire,    then     re-  Fatiier  of  the  Admiral. 

garded  as  a  part  of  Vermont. 

His  son  Simeon  was  the  admiral's  grandfather — Captain  Simeon 
Dewey,  born  at  Hebron,  Connecticut,  in  1770,  who  married  Prudence 
Yeamans  in  1794.  When  the  time  came  to  strike  out  for  himself  he 
chose  to  settle  in  Berlin,  Vermont,  four  miles  from  Montpelier,  the 
capital,  where  he  prospered  and  survived  to  the  age  of  ninety-three. 
Among  his  sons  was  one,  Juhus  Yeamans,  born  in  1801,  who 
turned  to  books  rather  than  to  the  ax  and  plow  of  the  farmer  of 
three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  and  became  exceptional  among  his 
fellows  by  that  ambition.  While  still  very  young  he  began  to 
teach  school  in  Montpelier,  but  only  as  a  means  to  further  schooling 
for  himself.  By  that  thrift  which  so  often  accompanies  and  makes 
most  serviceable  the  natural  energy  of  the  New  Englander,  the 
young  schoolmaster  was  saving  money  in  order  to  educate  himself 
as  a  physician.  This  he  succeeded  in  doing,  was  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Vermont,  and  became  the  most  prominent  practitioner 
and  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  capital  of  Vermont. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  young  Dr.  Dewey  went  to  his  home 
neighborhood  for  a  wife  and  married  the  beautiful  Mary  Perrin, 
his  boyish  sweetheart.  That  neighborhood  then,  as  now,  was  prac- 
tically divided  between  the  Deweys  and  the  Perrins,  and  two  lines 


4  LIKE    OK    DEWEY. 

of  good  stock  and  common  tradition  and  interest  were  united  by 
this  local  and  friendly  marriage. 

They  at  once  made  their  residence  in  Montpelier,  and  there  were 
born  their  four  children,  Charles,  Edward,  George  and  Mary.  This 
"George."  third  in  the  family,  whom  curiously  his  father  used 
always  to  call  by  the  pet  name  "little  hero,"  is  the  admiral  with 
whose  praise  the  end  of  the  century  is  ringing— and  our  subject. 

Let  us  look  for  a  few  moments  at  the  father  and  mother  and  their 
forbears,  whose  characters  have  contributed  to  produce  a  man  like 
Admiral  George  Dewey,  for  such  a  man  is  fir  greater  than  merely 
a  skillful  seaman  or  a  bold  fighter.  He  dues  and  must  possess  a 
lofty  regard  for  duty,  a  strong  sense  of  responsihility,  a  comprehen- 
sion of  the  power  of  discipline  which  hegins  with  self-control,  and 
a  broad  and  far-seeing  vision,  in  order  to  accomiilish  the  results  that 
Admiral  Dewey  has  attained,  outside  of  and  beyond  the  mere  bold- 
ness of  a  sea  fight  against  unknown  odds.  It  is  worth  our  while  to 
examine  the  breeding  as  well  as  to  trace  the  training  to  which  this 
force  of  character  and  the  man's  splendid  achievements  are  due. 

"The  Battle  of  Manila,"  it  has  been  said  with  discernment,  "was 
not  a  nuishroom  growth  of  the  night  before,  but  the  fruit  of  a  life- 
time of  faithful  preparation  for  the  performance  of  a  high  duty  for 
which  the  time  might  and  might  not  come.  Study  and  foresight 
and  care  so  brought  results  that  on  the  evening  of  the  first  Sunday  in 
May,  whose  morning  opened  the  gates  of  the  Orient  to  the  Occident, 
good  Parson  Lewis,  in  the  commodore's  home  church,  read  the  col- 
lect of  thanksgiving  for  victory  at  sea." 

Of  the  mother  of  the  admiral,  who  died  when  he  was  still  a  lad, 
not  much  need  be  said.  She  was  of  the  best  type  of  bright-minded, 
warm-hearted  New  England  women,  growing  somewhat  stately,  as 
her  social  position  and  wealth  advanced,  but  respected  and  beloved 
by  every  one  for  her  kindliness  of  heart  and  good  deeds— a  lady 
whom  her  children  remember  with  admiration  and  gratitude  as  well 
as  love. 

Incidentally  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  Dewey  family  has 
alwaj's  maintained  a  dignified  degree  of  "style."  Mrs.  Dewey 
always  drove  about  Montpelier  in  a  low-hanging  barouche,  on  whose 
horses  silver-plated  harness  clanked.  When  the  townspeople  saw 
the  barouche  approaching,  they  said,  lialf  in  awe,  half -jesting,  "Here 
comes  the  Prince  of  Wales'  carriage." 


THE   DEWEY    FAMILY. 


This  boy,  however,  losing  his  mother  in  childhood,  seems  to  have 
been  the  special  pet  of  his  father,  and  to  have  resembled  him  in  his 
characteristics.  Dr.  Julius  Dewey  was  known  everywhere  for  his 
strong  sense  of  duty  and  integrity.  He  was  universally  trusted. 
No  one  can  look  at  the  broad,  honest  face  with  its  high  forehead, 
firm  mouth  and  square  chin,  without  feeling  that  it  is  the  counte- 
nance of  a  man  who  would  do  his  duty  fearlessly;  and  no  one  can 
look  at  the  kindly  eyes,  with  a  twinkle  even  in  the  little  wrinkles  about 
their  corners,  without  recognizing  the  cheery 
humor  which  was  perhaps  the  strongest 
characteristic  of  the  man.  The  doctor  was 
always  for  looking  on  the 
bright  side  of  things, 
and  this  good  cheer  was 
worth  more,  no  doubt,  to 


MARY  DEWEY, 

The  only  sister. 


EDWARD  DEWE-S, 
Brother  of  the  Admiral. 

his  patients  than  were  his 
medicines.  He  had  excel- 
lent judgment,  and  pros- 
pered until  he  soon  became 
one  of  the  wealthy  men  of  his  town.  At  the 
age  of  fifty  he  had  saved  a  considerable  for- 
tune, and  in  order  to  invest  it  to  good  advan- 
tage he  formed  the  National  Life  Insurance  Compan}-,  which  is  now 
the  most  important  corporation  in  central  Vermont,  and  is  still  a 
source  of  wealth  to  the  family.  Until  his  death  in  1877  he  was  its 
president.  Then  his  son  Charles  became  its  presiding  officer,  and 
another  son,  Edward — the  eldest  of  the  family — became  and  remains 
a  leading  director. 

The  family  home  was  a   pretty  frame  cottage  which  stood  ^n 


CHARLES  DEWEY, 
The  oldest  brother. 


6  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

Main  Street,  directly  opposite  the  fine  statehouse,  or  Capitol  of  the 
State  of  Vermont;  and  here  George  and  the  other  children  were 
born.  A  few  years  ago  this  cottage  was  moved  to  a  new  and  very 
beautiful  site  beneath  the  elms  of  State  Street,  and  was  somewhat 
rebuilt;  but  it  is  the  same  house,  inwardly,  in  which  the  admiral 
first  saw  the  light.  In  its  place,  on  the  old  property  opposite  the 
statehouse,  stands  the  present  handsome  residence  of  Mr.  Charles 
Dewey,  the  admiral's  brother. 

The  family  life  in  that  cottage  was  a  good  one  for  children  that 
were  meant  to  become  good  citizens  and  worthy  men.  It  was  a 
God-fearing  home.  Dr.  Dewey  was  a  deeply  religious  man,  wor- 
shipping according  to  the  forms  of  the  Episcopal  denomination.  He 
was  the  founder  of  Christ  Church,  in  Montpelier,  where  the  future 
admiral  v/as  baptized  and  went  to  Sunday-school  and  service  each 
Sabbath  day;  and  there,  when  only  five  years  old,  he  wonder ingly 
attended  the  funeral  of  the  good  mother,  whose  grave  is  the  green- 
est in  the  Dewey  burial  lot  upon  Montpelier's  beautiful  hillside 
cemetery. 

One  of  the  habits  of  the  household  was  the  Sunday  evening  sing- 
ing at  home  after  church,  led  by  the  doctor  himself;  for  he  was  fond 
of  all  music,  and  possessed  an  excellent  voice.  Thus  by  inherit- 
ance as  well  as  early  training  the  admiral  comes  by  that  excellent 
voice  and  fondness  for  music  which  is  remembered  of  him  by  all 
his  classmates  and  shipmates.  He  was  one  of  the  best  singers  at  the 
military  school  in  his  boyhood,  and  learned  there  to  play  upon  the 
guitar,  to  the  delight  of  his  friends  at  home,  when  he  brought  it 
back  with  him  on  his  vacations;  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  cadet 
choir  at  the  Naval  Academy. 

It  is  not  surprising  also  to  learn  that  Dr.  Dewey  was  fond  of 
poetry,  and  that  Burns,  the  balladist  of  rural  life  and  the  most 
cheerful  of  philosophers,  was  his  favorite.  Cowper  was  another 
poet  often  read. 

Another  more  striking  quality  was  surely  inherited  by  our  great 
admiral — combativeness  in  a  good  cause.  The  Deweys  have  ever 
been  a  fighting  race.  The  earliest  ancestors  were  compelled  to  be 
constantly  on  their  guard  against  Indians.  The  gravestone  of  that 
Thomas  Dewey  who  "dyed  April  27  ano  1090:  in  the  52  yeare  of  his 
age"  shows  that  he  was  a  cornet  in  the  militia.  His  son,  Josiah, 
was  a  sergeant  in  the  train -bands  that  were  ready  any  instant  to  go 


THE    DEWEY    FAMILY.  7 

after  raiding  redskins  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  "William 
Dewey,  the  admiral's  great-grandfather,  was  a  corporal  in  the 
Continental  army,  and  fought  ^rnder  Gates  at  Saratoga.  His  wife 
was  a  granddaughter  of  Captain  George  Dennison,  who  fought 
under  Oliver  Cromwell  and  later  came  to  America  to  fight  Indians. 
Rev.  Jedediah  Dewey,  another  of  the  strain,  was  the  famous  fight- 
ing parson  of  Bennington,  Vermont,  associated  with  Colonel 
Ethan  Allen,  and  was  indicted  along  with  Allen  during  the  tem- 
pestuous times  preceding  the  Revolution.  His  son,  Elijah  Dewey, 
raised  a  company  of  Green  Mountain  Boys,  and  fought  under  Gen- 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  ADMIRAL  GEORGE  DEWEY,  MONTPELIER,  VT. 


eral  Stark  at  the  battle  of  Bennington,  while  his  wife  served  in  the 
commissary  department — she  cooked  dinner  for  the  soldiers." 

It  is  said,  in  fact,  that  over  sixty  persons  related  to  this  line  of  the 
family  are  known  to  have  served  in  the  American  forces  during 
the  Revolutionary  war.  As  for  the  War  of  1812  the  present  writer 
is  not  informed ;  but  doubtless  a  long  list  of  family  names  might  be 
compiled  from  the  rosters  of  the  troops  which  defended  the  northern 


S  LIKE    OF   DEWEV. 

froutier — tbeir  own  homes,  in  fact,  from  that  inroad  by  the  British 
from  Canada,  which  was  turned  hack  at  Plattsburg  and  on  Lake 
Champlain. 

In  the  Civil  war,  while  the  admiral  was  serving  in  the  navy,  his 
elder  brother  Edward  was  a  captain  in  the  army;  and  his  son,  the 
admiral's  nephew,  is  also  a  naval  officer. 


IL 

Boyhood. 

It  is  plain  that  it  may  most  truly  be  said  of  Admiral  Dewey: 
"He  is  a  born  fighter."  This  characteristic,  indeed,  is  the  one  that 
seems  to  be  most  strongly  remembered  by  the  townspeople  and 
schoolmates  of  his  younger  years. 

He  was  a  healthy,  sturdy  youngster,  always  out  of  doors  and  fond 
of  every  sort  of  active  sport  and  adventure  above  everything  else. 

Both  his  brothers  were  considerably  older,  and  already  busy  with 
school  or  work,  so  that  he  was  left  much  to  himself  in  his  play,  as 
a  little  boy,  when  his  sister,  two  years  younger,  Avas  his  untiring 
companion  and  slave,  never  happier  than  when  she  was  permitted  to 
go  fishing  with  him,  and  bait  his  hook;  and  many  a  weary  mile  the 
two  children  trudged  together.  If  they  were  wanted  and  were  not 
within  call  it  was  pretty  safe  to  say  that  they  were  wading  the  shal- 
lows of  the  brawling  and  beautiful  Winooski,  or  imagining  them- 
selves in  wonderful  adventures  along  its  shelving  banks. 

One  day,  relates  an  old  lady  of  Montpelier,  she  was  calling  upon 
Mrs.  Dr.  Dewey,  who  naturally  wished  to  show  her  boy;  and  she 
vividly  remembers  how  presently  there  was  dragged  iuto  the  parlor 
a  little  man  with  very  black  eyes,  whose  bare  and  sturdy  legs  were 
still  shilling  with  the  water  of  Winooski 's  bright  rapids,  and  how 
he  tried  to  hide  the  tattered  straw  hat  behind  him  as  he  bashfully 
endured  the  process  of  introduction. 

Of  course  to  a  youngster  of  this  mold  the  summer  days  on  grand- 
father's farm  at  Berlin  were  happier  than  any  even  in  the  rural  vil- 
lage.    Near  the  farm  runs  a  hill-stream   named  Dog   River,  which 


BOYHOOD.  9 

dwindles  to  an  insignificant  creek  in  dry  weather,  but  in  the 
spring,  or  when  heavy  rains  come,  "booms"  as  Western  people  say, 
into  a  broad  and  powerful  toi-rent,  as  the  boy  was  soon  afterward  to 
learn  by  experience  as  well  as  by  observation. 

The  best -loved  sjiot  in  this  little  river  was  a  certain  bend  with 
gravelly  banks  known  as  the  Pearl  Beds,  because  there,  in  times 
past,  excellent  pearls  had  been  taken  from  the  mussels  that  inhabit 
the  stream.  Here  was  the  lad's  favorite  fishing  ground ;  and  Avhether 
hecaught  much,  or  how  often  he  fell  in,  nobody  cared.  It  was  there, 
perhaps,  he  took  his  first  lessons  in  swimming,  an  accomplishment  in 


MARY  AND  GEORGE. 


which  he  became  very  expert  and  which  served  him  and  others  in 
good  stead  later  on.  One  would  suppose  that,  naturally,  somehow, 
sailors  would  be  swimmers,  but  this  is  by  no  means  the  case;  and 
the  man  who  has  not  learned  it  in  boyhood  is  likely  to  go  through 
life  without  becoming  good  abit,  even  when  that  life  is  mainly  spent 
on  the  water,  which  sailors  seem  to  fear  more  than  landsmen. 


10  LIFE    OF   DEWEY. 

The  "swimming-hole"  of  the  Montpelier  boys  was  in  a  bend  of 
the  Winooski  or  Onion  River,  not  far  from  George's  home;  and 
there  he  was  foremost  in  daring.  He  once  remained  under  water  so 
long  in  diving  in  competition  with  others  that  every  one  thought 
him  gone,  and  some  men  near  by  rushed  in  and  dragged  him  out. 
But  he  was  not  drowned — only  holding  his  breath  to  the  last  gasp; 
and  the  first  explosion  brought  the  anxious,  spluttered  words:  *'Did 
I  beat  him?"     He  once  saved  one  of  his  schoolmates  from  drowning. 

Skating,  of  course,  was  a  pastime  that  no  Vermont  boy  would 
miss,  and  the  Montpelier  fellows  had  a  way  of  spicing  it  with  that 
danger  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  romantic  youth,  by  playing  a  game 
they  called  "skating  the  rag." 

"This  sport,"  writes  Mr.  W.  E.  Johnson,  "consisted  in  making  a 
big  hole  in  the  ice  on  the  Onion  River.  The  boy  who  skated  nearest 
the  hole  was 'it.'  George  Dewey  was  generally 'it.'  Ofttimes  he 
plunged  into  the  hole  and  came  home  soaking  wet.  Colds  and  fever 
which  followed  made  the  old  doctor  much  trouble.  One  day  the  old 
man  brought  home  a  big  pair  of  coarse  high  boots  reaching  above 
his  knees,  so  that  'George  would  not  get  his  feet  wet.'  As  a  boy, 
George  was  proud,  and  wearing  those  big  coarse  boots  was  a  dire 
punishment. 

"  'I  don't  want  to  wear  those  boots,  pa,*  pleaded  George,  almost 
in  tears;  but  he  had  to  put  them  on,  whereupon  the  town  boys  be- 
gan to  call  him  'Boots.'     This  made  the  lad's  distress  unbearable. 

"L.  B.  Coves,  a  i)laymate  of  Dewey's,  who  was  an  eyewitness  to 
the  affair,  tells  me  how  the  man  of  Manila  disposed  of  the  obnox- 
ious boots.  'Old  man  Appleton  used  to  have  a  potash  factory  on 
the  river  bank.  There  we  boys  used  to  go  to  warm  our  feet  by  the 
hot  brick  cone  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  One  night,  when  we  were 
warming  our  feet  and  incidentally  tormenting  George  about  his 
boots,  he  coolly  took  them  off  and  tossed  them  into  the  middle  of  the 
cone.  'I  smell  something  burning,'  exclaimed  the  old  potash- 
maker,  rushing  up;  but  he  was  too  late.  The  boots  were  wholly 
destroyed,  and  George  went  home  through  the  snow  in  his  stocking 
feet." 

His  most  serious  adA'enturo  in  boj'hood,  however,  is  the  one 
Montpelier  folks  still  chuckle  over  and  call  his  "first  voyage." 
When  George  was  about  eleven  jears  old  his  father  and  some 
other   Montpelier  families  pastured  their  cows  along  Dog  River, 


BOYHOOD. 


11 


rather  too  far  for  the  boys  to  walk  daily  and  bring  them  back.  One 
spring  day  George,  with  a  chum  named  Will  Redfield^  and  some 
other  boys,  went  after  them  in  Dr.  Dewey's  buggy;  but  when  they 
came  to  the  ford,  about  a  mile  below  the  place  shown  in  the  picture 
of  the  Pearl  Banks,  on  page  15,  they  found  the  stream  so  swollen 
by  a  freshet  as  to  present  decided  dangers  to  any  one  attempting  to 
cross  it.  Most  of  the  boys  demurred,  and  refused  to  venture,  but 
Dewey  said : 


DEWEY'S  FIRST  CRUISE. 


"Those  cows  must  be  got  and  I'm  going  to  try  it,  anyhow." 
This  nerved  Will  Redfield  up  to  the  point,  and  the  two  made  the 
passage  safely,  though  not  without  trouble. 

The  cattle  were  gathered  in  haste,  and  the  two  boys  started  home, 
driving  the  herd  before  them.  When  they  reached  the  river  it  was 
even  higher  and  swifter  than  before.  It  is  amazing  what  depth  and 
power  these  mountain  brooks  will  suddenly  assume.     It  was  now 


12  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

truly  dangerous  to  attempt  to  cross,  and  success  was  doubtful;  but 
the  boy's  pluck  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  whether  or  not  the  same 
may  be  said  of  his  judgment. 

The  horse  was  slowly  forced  into  the  torrent,  Dewej'  driving  and 
his  young  mate  holding  on  beside  him  as  best  he  could.  The 
water  grew  deeper  and  swifter.  It  whirled  through  the  spokes  far 
above  the  hubs,  leaked  up  into  the  wagon  box,  and  pushed  with  all 
its  might  against  the  horse's  limbs.  An  unlucky  stone  lifted  ti  e 
wheel  a  trifle,  and  gave  the  water  just  the  needed  leverage.  An 
instant  later  the  buggy  was  afloat,  its  top  had  torn  loose  and  gone 
adrift,  and  the  horse,  with  the  bojs  clinging  to  him  as  best  they 
could,  was  struggling  to  reach  the  bank.  Almost  au  eighth  of  a 
mile  was'  passed,  however,  stumbling  and  floating  down  stream, 
with  the  torrent,  before  the  horse  could  find  a  foothold,  and  the  half- 
wrecked  vehicle  could  be  dragged  ashore. 

The  story  goes  that  when  George  got  home  his  father  was  away, 
and  he  concluded  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to  go  straight  to  bed 
without  his  supper.  His  father  soon  came  into  the  room  and  Viegan 
to  upbraid  the  boy  for  his  recklessness.  "What  does  this  mean?" 
began  the  father,  trying  to  look  angry.  "Pa,  you  ouglit  to  be 
thankful  that  I  wasn't  drowned,"  sobbed  the  urchin  from  under  the 
bedclothes. 

The  hill  crowned  by  the  noble  Capitol  used  to  be  a  favorite 
playground,  before  the  j)avk  improvements  put  a  stop  to  boys'  sports 
there.  To  young  George's  imagination  its  heights  represented  the 
Alps,  and  he  wanted  to  ])la5'  the  part  of  Hannibal.  This  was  after 
he  had  finished  "Robinson  Crusoe"  and  he  and  Mary  had  played,  until 
the}'  were  played  out,  the  characters  of  "Crusoe"  and  "Friday"  on 
the  islets  and  sandbars  of  the  Wiuooski.  Then  one  day  his  brother 
gave  the  boy  a  copy  of  the  "Life  of  Hannibal."  and  a  new  field  of 
imitation  was  opened  to  the  lad's  lively  imagination  and  indomitable 
zeal  for  doing  something. 

The  village  historians  say  that  it  was  winter  when  tliis  book 
opened  a  new  world  to  the  eager  lad,  and  snow  lay  thick  on  the  steep 
slope  behind  the  statehouse,  upon  which  had  frozen  a  crust  like 
glass.  "To  ten-yeai'-old  Hannibal,"  to  quote  a  reminiscence,  "here 
was  a  Jungfrau  ready  to  hand  and  well-nigh  as  formidable.  Orders 
were  at  once  issued  to  sister  Mary,  in  this  instance  the  army  and  all 
the  appurtenances  thereof,  who  cheerfully  left  her  'Child's  Life  of 


BOYHOOD; 


u 


Queen  Bess'  and  the  cozy  iireside  to  follow  her  captain  over  the 
Alps — no  mean  undertaking — and  afterward  to  pay  for  her  loyalty, 
poor  little  soul,  by  a  week  in  bed.  History  does  not  mention  what 
happened  to  George." 

It  is  not  improbable  that  to  the  influence  of  this  book  on  the  im- 
pressible mind  and  imagination  of  a  boy,  ardent,  forceful  and  ad- 
venturous by  nature,  is  due  the  strong  bent  toward  the  military  life 
which  he  presently  showed,  and  which   determined  to  a  great  extent 


THE  STATE  HOUSE,  MONTPELn':R. 

his  schooling  and  his  later  career.  It  is  said  that  he  never  lost  an 
occasion  to  organize  his  friends  into  companies  and  play  marching 
Hannibal's  army  over  the  Alps,  until  he  got  too  large  to  do  so  with 
the  dignity  that  is  so  precious   to  every  right-minded  lad. 

One  more  reminiscence  of  these  boyhood  days  must  suffice,  lest  the 
tale  of  this  little  lad,  who  was  by  no  means  a  prodigy  or  a  model, 
should  grow  tedious;  but  this  recollection  is  interesting  as  showing 
the  alertness  (f  m'nd  aud  iuiagination  without  which  no  man  can 
succeed,  that  George  possessed,  and  also  his  disposition  and  ability 
to  become  a  leader  in   whatever  engaged  his  attention. 


14  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

One  hears  various  accounts  of  the  theatricals  that  the  children 
used  to  have  in  Dr.  Dewey's  barn,  which  sometimes  took  the  form 
of  acting  little  plays  of  heroism  or  romance,  and  sometimes  es- 
sayed "nigger  minstrelsy."  In  every  case  young  "Dod,"  as  his  in- 
dulgent father  called  him,  was  manager  and  leading  actor  com- 
bined, with  his  sister  Mary  as  the  leading  lady,  whenever  she  could 
not  beg  off.  This  sister  is  now  living  in  Montpelier  and  is  the  widow 
of  Captain  George  P.  Greeley,  who  served  as  surgeon  of  a  New 
Hampshire  regiment  throughout  the  Civil  war.  For  a  curtain  they 
hung  a  buffalo  robe;  and  there  was  no  lack  of  "action"  in  the  per- 
formances, which  were  the  delight  of  the  school-children  of  the  vil- 
lage. The  Rev.  Mr.  Wright,  now  a  prominent  clergyman  of  Mont- 
pelier, was  one  of  these,  and  tells  how  on  one  occasion  the  "leading 
lady"  of  that  time  being  absent,  Mary,  who  had  not  prepared  herself 
as  an  understudy,  was  dragged  forward  from  the  retirement  of  a 
back  seat  in  the  audience.  Her  plea  that  she  didn't  know  the  part 
was  of  no  avail.  She  was  compelled  to  try;  and  as  George  fired  off 
his  pistol  at  an  awkward  crisis,  Mary  got  through  her  part  creditably, 
and  the  play  was  wholly  satisfactory  to  an  enthusiastic  audience, 
who  had  never  learned  to  make  fun   of  barn-storraers. 

This  pistol-shooting,  according  to  Dr.  Wright,  proved  to  be  an 
effective  drawing  card,  and  attracted  crowds;  but  it  was  too  realis- 
tic a  sort  of  drama  for  the  neighbors,  and  Dr.  Dewey  put  an  end  to 
histrionic  displays  which  were  likely  to  increase  his  surgical  prac- 
tice and  set  fire  to  his  premises. 


III. 

Schooldays. 


It  is  perhaps  unfortunate,  but  true,  that  the  things  best  remembered 
of  the  future  admiral's  school  life  are  his  fights.  His  older  brothers 
say  he  was  a  perfect  little  gamecock.  George  was  never  a  bad  boy 
—a  malicious  or  mean  boy;  but  he  had  inherited  from  his  father  a 
quick  temper,  he  had  boldness  and  courage  in  a  high  degree,  and  a 
country  boy's  full  measure  of  health,  strength  and  vivacity.  He 
was  small   for  his  years,    but  would  face  a  larger,   bullying  boy, 


SCHOOLDAYS. 


15 


with  utter  fearlessness ;  and  in  general  wanted  it  understood  that  in 
fighting  he  was  better  than  any  one  else  anywhere  near  a  match  to 
him.  This  came  to  be  acknowledged  among  the  boys,  after  consid- 
erable practice;  and  a  blow  he  had  learned  to  deliver  straight  on  the 
nose  is  said  to  have  been  especially  dreaded.  His  brother  Charles 
relates  how  once  he  stalked  up  to  a  lad  twice  his  size,  with  the 
remark: 

*'I  want  you  to  understand  I  can  lick  you." 


PEARL  BEDS  ON  DOG  RIVER. 


"I  know  it,  Dod,"  was  the  answer;  "but  don't  do  it!" 

Many's  tbe  time  he  has  pounded  some  big  bull}''  who  was  "pick- 
ing on"  a  weak  boy  at  school.  Yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  he 
was  ringleader  in  the  reprehensible,  but  in  those  days  common  prac- 
tice, of  abusing  any  new  school-teacher  that  couldn't  prevent  it. 

The  boy  was  sent,  as  soon  as  he  was  old  enough,  to  the  village 
grammar  school.  As  to  what  happened  there  many  stories  are  re- 
lated ;  but  the  best  account  known  to  this  biographer  is  that  by  Mr. 
William  Johnson  in  Tite  New  Voice,  which  runs  as  follows: 

"In  the  early  Montpelier  days  it  was  the  custom  of  the  schoolboys 


16  LIFE    OP^   DEWEY. 

to  throw  the  master  out  in  the  snowbank.  If  the  attempt  failed 
there  was  no  more  troul)le  during  the  term  of  school.  If  it  suc- 
ceded,  it  was  accepted  as  a  '  vote  of  lack  of  confidence'  on  the  part  of 
all  concerned,  and  was  followed  Ijv  tlie  teacher's  resignation. 

"  Voung  Dewey  was  usually  the  leader  of  the  'opposition'  in  these 
cases,  and  the  assault  on  the  dominie  was  generally  successful.  One 
\\  inter  when  old  George  Reed  was  the  school  committeeman,  three 
wilVereut  teachers  were  pitched  into  the  snowpile,  and  no  more 
teachers  were  to  he  found  to  attt^niptthe  job.  Finalh'  Reed  himself, 
who  was  something  of  an  athlete,  opened  the  school  in  person. 

"His  opening  address  was  short. but  pointed.      He  said  : 

"  'Boys,- you  have  thrown  out  thrue  of  my  teachers  this  Avinter, 
and  no\v  lam  going  to  see  if  you  will  throw  me  out.  Whenever 
3'ou  get  ready  just  come  along  and  'we  ^vill    have  it  out.' 

"The 'opposition'  was  a  little  dismayed  at  iirst;  but  in  a  few  days 
under  George's  leatlership  they  rallifil  i\>v  the  assault.  Rf»^d 
straight wa}'  proceeded  to  'slam  the  l)oys  aiiumd"  in  tlie  most  ap- 
proved fashion.  After  the  defeated  lads  had  retreated  to  their  seats. 
Reed  seized  a  few  of  the  leaders  hy  the  coat  collar,  jerked  them  out 
on  the  floor,  and 'snapped  their  heels  in  the  air  just  to  keep  his  hand 
in,'  he  saiil.  The  boys  hung  to  their  desks,  but  the  teacher  tore  desk 
and  all  from  their  fastenings.  Reed  was  not  much  on 'book  larnin' 
but  he  finished  that  term  with  the  profound  respect  of  the  boys. 

''Z.  K.  Paugborn,  for  thirty  years  editor  of  the  Jersey  City 
Journal^  was  another  teacher  of  the  Moutpelier  school  who  was  not 
vanquished.  At  that  time  George  Dewey  was  but  eleven  years 
old,  and  his  father  was  school  committeeman.  After  the  first  day's 
experience,  Pangborn  went  to  the  doctor  and  reported  that  his  son 
was  already  gettiag  obstreperous. 

"  'If  you  can't  manage  that  eleven-year-old  boy  you'd  better  re- 
sign your  position,'  replied  the  doctor  grimly. 

"Pangborn  provided  himself  with  a  rawhide  and  awaited  develop- 
ndents,  resolved  to  give  a  good  account  of  himself.  The  second  day 
the  first  skirmish  was  fought.  Next  door  to  the  schoolhouse  was  an 
old  church  where  the  boys  were  wont  to  ring  the  bell  at  unseemly 
hours.  After  school,  'Dod,'  as  captain,  formed  the  boys  into  two 
brigades.  One,  he  ranged  in  ambush  behind  a  fence;  the  other, 
which  he  led  in  person,  was  hidden  in  the  church  belfry.  All  the 
'troops'  were  armed  with  well-frozen  snowballs. 


SCHOOLDAYS. 


17 


"As  the  teacher  came  out,  the  hattery  in  the  belfry  opened  the  en- 
gagement with  a  volley.  At  a  signal  from  young  Dewey,  the  re- 
serves from  behind  the  fence  opened  up,  surrounded  the  enemj^  and 
the  engagement  became  general.  The  battle  was  close  and  sharp. 
At  one  time'Dod'  was  astraddle  the  teacher's  neck.  Some  of  the 
boys  were  roughly  haudled,  but  the  schoolmaster  was  soon  forced  to 
beat  a  hasty  retreat. 

"Pangborn  was  mortified  at  his  defeat,  and  determined  to  make 


WHERE  YOUNG  DEW  ICY  FIRST  WENT  TO  SCHOOL. 


one  more  attempt.  Instead  of  leaving  town,  he  appeared  at  the 
school  the  next  day.  It  was  not  long  before  trouble  was  renewed. 
The  insurgent  leader,  Dewey,  stood  up  and  made  this  address  to  the 
teacher : 

"  'We  now  propose  to  give  you  the  best  licking  that  you  ever  had 
in  your  life. ' 

"With  these  words,  Dewey  led  the  attack,  striking  out  with  his 
fist.  The  teacher  replied  with  his  rawhide,  which  staggered  the 
leader  a  bit.  The  reserves,  consisting  of  the  big  boys,  then  came  up 
and  were  confronted   with  the    teacher's    rapid-fire    battery,   with 


18  LIFE    OF   DEWEY. 

hickory  cord  wood  as  ammunition.  One  boy  was  knocked  insensi- 
ble; others  were  cut  and  bVuised,  while  Dewey  was  so  savagely 
pounded  that  he  had  to  be  helped  home  with  one  band  in  a  sling. 

"The  wounded  leader,  assisted  by  the  boys,  went  down  the  street, 
flinging  defiance  to  Pangborn,  who  walked  down  the  other  side  to 
present  his  case.  Dr.  Dewey  heard  both  sides,  tied  up  his  wounded 
son's  bruises,  and  thanked  the  teacher  for  the  job.  There  was  no 
more  trouble  at  that  term  of  school." 

Young  Dewey  was  undoubtedly  a  wild  boy,  but  he  was  not  a  bad 
one,  and  he  loved  his  father  and  respected  his  superiors,  according  to 
his  lights.  After  Mr.  Pangborn  had  thrashed  him  George  became 
an  obedient  subject,  and  began  to  like  his  "dominie"  so  well  that 
when  the  teacher  moved  to  Johnson,  in  the  same  State,  and  opened 
a  private  school  (now  become  a  State  Normal  School),  young  Dewey 
asked,  and  was  allowed,  to  go  with  him.  He  learned  a  great  deal 
from  this  sturdy  gentleman. 

It  is  said  that  as  a  boy  the  admiral  was  not  fond  of  books,  and 
that  he  has  never  become  what  is  called  a  bookish,  or  even  a  well- 
read  man,  outside  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  has  given  all  the 
mental  energy  he  cared  to  expend  in  the  way  of  stud}-. 

However  that  may  be,  he  seems  to  have  been  convinced  of  the 
value  of  the  education  his  father  was  anxious  to  provide  for  him;  and 
when  he  was  fifteen  years  old  he  willingly  went  to  the  Norwich 
Military  School,  then  as  now  (though  since  moved  to  Northfield)  the 
foremost  school  for  boys  in  Vermont,  outside  the  fine  State  Univer- 
sity at  Burlington. 

The  choice  of  this  school  is  said  to  have  been  a  compromise,  how- 
ever, between  himself  and  his  father.  George  wanted  to  go  to  sea, 
in  the  merchant  service  or  anyhow.  His  father  opposed  this  idea 
vigorously,  and  as  a  compensation  let  the  boy  go  to  a  military 
school  with  a  view  to  preparing  for  West  Point.  The  result  only 
regulated,  instead  of  eradicated  his  original  notion.  The  taste  of 
military  life  he  got  there  simply  confirmed  him  in  the  desire  to  shape 
his  course  toward  the  navy  instead  of  the  army.  He  talked  this 
plan  over  one  day  with  a  schoolmate,  George  Spalding,  only  to  find 
that  Spalding  was  nourishing  the  same  ambition.  So  the  two  be- 
came friendly  rivals  in  the  race  for  Annapolis. 

i\Ieanwhile  young  Dewey's  old  love  of  settling  questions  and  es- 
tablishing his  position  and  other  facts  by  fisticuffs  varied  the  monot- 


CADET    LIFE.  19 

ony  of  his  schoolwork  by  occasional  en  counters,  and  more  than 
once,  as  a  result,  was  he  made  a  spectacle  for  the  school,  by  being 
obliged  to  pace,  sentry-like,  around  a  certain  tree  on  the  campus  as 
punishment  for  fighting. 

He  studied,  nevertheless,  and  kept  his  eye  on  the  navy.  His 
father  objected  and  opposed  his  plans,  and  Spalding's  mother  was 
equally  discontented  with  her  son's  designs.  Both,  however,  had 
friends  in  Senator  Job  Morrill  and  Senator  Foote,  and  finally  the 
latter  gave  Spalding  the  appointment  for  the  j'ear  1854  and  made 
Dewey  alternate.  Then  Spalding's  mother,  having  exhausted  argu- 
ment, turned  to  entreaty ;  and  her  tears  conquered.  Spalding  de- 
cided not  to  go,  and  Dewey  went  down  for  examination,  his  father 
having  relented.  He  passed,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  entered  the 
class  of  1854  at  the  United  States  Naval  Academy.  "And  so  it 
came  about  that  the  Rev.  George  B.  Spalding  preached  a  war  ser- 
mon, in  Syracuse,  New  York,  upon  the  occasion  of  his  old  school- 
mate's victory." 

In  order  to  carry  out  his  plan  Dewey  did  not  take  the  entire 
course  or  graduate  at  the  Norwich  University.  But  that  institution 
lat^y  gave  him  its  degree  of  B.S.,  as  of  the  year  he  would  have 
graduated ;  and  subsequently  honored  him  with  its  unique  degree  of 
M. M.S.— Master  of  Military  Science.  This  university  counts  three 
rear-admirals  among  her  alumni;  and  she  has  furnished  to  the  two 
arms  of  the  service  not  only  a  larger  proportion  of  her  matriculants, 
but  actually  a  larger  number  of  men,  than  any  other  college  in  the 
service.  Well  may  the  admiral  say,  as  he  has  said,  "The  results 
have  shown  the  excellent  training  young  men  have  received  there," 


IV. 

Cadet  Life. 

The  training  which  George  Dewey  had  received  in  Vermont, 
both  physically  and  mentally,  made  itself  felt  at  Annapolis,  where 
he  at  once  took  a  creditable  place  in  his  class  and  bettered  it  as  the 
course  advanced. 


20  TJFE   OF   DEWEY. 

He  was  then  a  slender  but  not  tall  young  fellow,  with  rather  high 
ciaeek  bones  anil  a  piercing  black  eye.  Of  that  eye  of  his,  whose 
glance  directed  the  battle  in  Manila  harbor,  an  old  townsman  said 
in  1885,  when  Dewey  went  back  to  Montpelier  a  captain,  "By  gin- 
ger, I  b'lieve  the  Captain  could  look  through  a  stun  post!"  Not  a 
sternpost — Dewey  looked  at  those  the  other  day — but  a  stone  post, 
for  in  Montpelier  all  the  hitching  posts  are  of  granite. 

Of  his  regular  duties  in  the  classroom  and  drillroom  little  need 
be  said.  Out  of  all  that  entered  in  his  j'ear  onlj^  fourteen  stayed 
through  the  course.  He  was  not  only  one  of  these,  but  stood  fifth 
on  the  class  roll  at  graduation.  This  means  that  he  must  have  been 
both  able  and  diligent. 

Dewey  found  the  3'oung  men  at  Annapolis  as  sharply  divided  as 
elsewhere  on  the  great  questions  between  North  and  South,  then 
agitating  the  country  so  fiercely  and  so  soon  to  tear  it  asunder — more 
po,  for  all  were  high-strung  young  citizens,  and  those  from  the 
South  represented  the  most  aristocratic  and  autocratic  families;  but 
with  most  mistaken  judgment  the  leader  of  the  Southern  faction 
picked  out  this  new  cadet  from  the  Green  Mountain  State  as  the  one 
to  "have  some  fun  with"  among  the  Freshmen. 

Dewey  restrained  himself,  and  did  not  even  resent  being  called  a 
Yankee — he  was  rather  proud  of  the  fact,  even  though  the  term  was 
not  presented  to  hira  in  that  way;  but  when  the  Southerner  sneered 
at  him  for  a  "doughface"  there  was  trouble. 

It  doesn't  seem,  now,  a  very  terrible  epithet.  We  might  imagine 
it  to  be  some  uncomplimentary  reference  to  paleness  of  complexion 
or  an  infantile  roundness  of  features  that  a  man  might  very  well 
pass  over  with  contempt.  But  at  that  time  the  meaning  was  very 
different  and  highly  opprobrious  to  an  earnest  patriot. 

Before  the  civil  war,  and  while  the  controvers}'  over  Northern 
dignities  and  Southern  rights  was  heating  the  nation  to  the  flaming 
point,  a  small  class  of  men  existed  in  the  North  who  believed  in  sub- 
serviency to  the  demands  of  the  Southerners  for  the  sake  of  quiet — a 
class  whose  idea  of  peace  at  any  price  was  repugnant  to  honorable 
men  of  both  sides,  who  conceived  that  there  were  principles  at  stake, 
toward  which  every  man  of  good  sense  and  patriotism  and  manli- 
ness must  take  a  distinct  attitude.  These  lukewarm  people,  and  es- 
pecially the  Northern  politicians  disposed  to  undue  compliance  with 
the  pretensions  of  the  slaveholders  that  were  threatening  the  Union, 


CADET    LIFE.  21 

were  dubbed  "doughfaces. "  It  was  applied  to  certain  Southern  sym- 
pathizing congressmen  as  far  back  as  1838,  and  had  been  revived. 
Lowell  wrote  in  the  "'.Biglow  Papers"  : 

"Fer  any  office,  small  or  gret, 
I  couldn't  ax  with  no  face, 
Without  I'd  been  thru  dry  and  wet, 
Th'  unrizzest  kind  o'  doughface." 

It  is  plain  that  Dewey  couldn't  endure  that  such  a  terra  as  that 
should  be  applied  to  him  unanswered  ;  and  he  did  repel  it  promptly. 
This  only  incited  the  Southerner  to  bait  him  further  and  say  worse 
things  of  and  to  him.  The  direct  consequence  was  a  knock-down  blow 
in  the  taunter's  face,  and  a  battle  in  which  the  strong  young  Ver- 
monter — who  had  been  the  "gamecock"  of  Montpelier — came  off 
decidedly  the  victor.  Some  time  afterward  another  malcontent 
hurled  an  inkstand  at  the  new  freshman's  head  in  the  reading 
room;  whereupon  the  future  admiral  knocked  that  cadet  down 
also  and  bruised  him  sorely.  This  Southerner,  however,  did  not 
let  the  matter  end  there,  as  a  fair  fighter  would  do,  but  sent  a  chal- 
lenge to  mortal  combat  according  to  the  "code,"  suggesting  pistols 
at  close  range. 

Whether  young  Dewey  had  kept  up  pistol  practice  since  his 
dramatic  exercises  in  his  father's  barn  is  doubtful.  Probably  not. 
It  is  likely  he  was  entirely  unskilled  with  the  weapon,  and  the  chal- 
leuger  knew  it.  But  Dewey  accepted  promptly,  all  the  same;  the 
seconds  were  chosen  and  the  ground  prepared ;  but  at  this  point 
brother  students,  realizing  the  serious  nature  of  the  affair,  informed 
the  authorities,  and  the  would-be  duelists  "were  arrested  and  com- 
pelled to  behave  themselves.  Otherwise  it  is  quite  likely  this  biog- 
raphy would  be  compelled  to  stop  here. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  either  of  the  cadets  made  any 
attempt  to  dodge  the  authorities  and  at  a  later  time  complete  their 
interrupted  quarrel.  Nothing  would  be  more  unlikely  in  the  case  of 
our  hero,  at  least;  for  the  distingui^shing  characteristic  of  the  man, 
as  a  naval  officer,  has  been  nis  strong  sense  of  discipline — a  matter 
in  which  he  could  never  have  excelled  unless  he  had  been  willing  to 
subject  himself  wholly  to  the  regulations  and  authorities  of  the  serv- 
ice. Beyond  this,  it  is  known  that  after  a  time  the  quarrel  was 
healed,  and  the  would-be  enemies  became  fast  friends,  respecting  as 
well  as  loving  one  another 


22  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

When  Dewe}'  graduated  he  stood  fifth  in  his  class  at  the  academy 
— a  standing  attributable  to  his  fine  knowledge  of  seamanship  rather 
than  to  excellence  in  the  more  academic  branches  of  his  education. 
But  if  he  did  not  learn  as  much  of  books  there  as  he  might,  he  ac- 
quired a  training  that  was  to  be  of  the  most  vital  service  to  him — 
the  sense  of  self-reliance  and  self-discipline.  He  had  always  been 
self-confident  and  boyishly  daring.  He  learned  to  exercise  judgment 
for  others  as  well  as  for  himself,  and  to  maintain  self-control  what- 
ever happened.  "Whoso  governs  himself  is  greater  than  he  that 
taketh  a  city,"  is  a  maxim  of  ancient  wisdom.  This  man  did 
both— truly  lie  is  "great!" 

As  midshipman  he  first  took  a  practice  cruise  in  the  ship  Sara- 
toga, going  into  Southern  waters,  and  spending  some  time  at  Key 
West;  and  here  ho  became  popular  among  his  shipmates,  and 
respected,  too,  for  his  knowledge  of  a  ship's  was's,  and  his  care  in 
attending  to  his  duties  and  tasks  as  a  cadet  officer. 

This  caused  him  to  be  selected  by  his  superiors  for  assignment  to 
one  of  the  best  ships  of  the  old  navy — the  steam  frigate  Wabash, 
then  (isr)'.t)  commanded  by  Captain  Barrow's,  who  was  a  Virginian, 
and  who  shortly  afterward  resigned  to  enter  the  service  of  bis  State 
and  the  Confederac}',  where  his  experience  was  at  once  utilized  in 
the  capture  of  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard  and  the  fitting  out  of  the  ram 
Virginia  (or  Merrimac)  which  did  such  havoc  in  Hampton  Roads 
until  met  by  the  little  Monitor. 

The  Wabash  cruised  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  cadet  officers 
aboard  of  it  had  their  first  taste  of  European  life;  for  it  was  a  part  of 
the  policy  of  commanders  to  let  their  3'oung  men  go  ashore  as  often 
as  permissible,  and  see  the  cities  of  the  old  world  accessible  to  them, 
often  taking  trips  inland.  Thus  Rome  and  Athens  and  other  cities 
were  visited,  and  knowledge  broadened.  Among  the  noted  places 
Midshipman  Dewey  visited  was  Jerusalem,  while  the  frigate  lay  at 
Jaffa;  and  great  larks  it  was  for  the  middies,  riding  across  the 
desert  on  camels  where  now  one  travels  in  such  a  commonjilaco  way. 

It  is  a  pleasing  incident  of  this  trip  that  in  the  ancient  city  young 
Dewey  took  pains  to  buy  for  his  beloved  grandfather,  on  the  old 
hill  farm  in  Vermont,  an  olive-wood  cane.  He  sent  it  home  at  the 
first  opportunity;  and  it  is  said  that  the  old  gentleman  valued  this 
cane  so  highly  that  he  asked  for  it  on  his  deathbed,  so  that  it  lay 
within  reach  of  his  feeble  band  when  he  passed  away. 


CIVIL   WAR    EXPERIENCES.  23 

George  was  assigned  to  keep  the  ship's  log  of  this  cruise,  doing  it 
in  a  handwriting  which  is  more  beautiful,  it  must  be  confessed,  than 
the  chirograph}'  of  the  present  busy  admiral;  and  its  manuscript 
pages  are  among  the  most  highly  prized  possessions  of  his  family. 
A  curious  coincidence  is,  that  the  first  vessel  of  war  the  Wabash 
encountered  on  that  cruise  was  a  Spanish  corvette,  with  which  the 
frigate  exchanged  the  courtesies  of  the  sea. 

Two  years  were  thus  passed,  and  then  Dewey  came  home  and  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  academy  for  promotion.  He  passed  the  exami- 
nation so  well  that  he  not  only  received  the  desired  advancement,  but 
was  raised  two  numbers,  making  him  third  in  his  class.  This  was 
in  18G0,  and  he  was  then  given  a  leave  of  absence,  and  returned  to 
his  home  at  Montpelier,  "on  waiting  orders, "  to  enjoy  a  well-merited 
vacation. 


Civil  War  Experiences. 

The  vacation  was  to  be  short.  The  country  was  in  turmoil. 
War  had  been  threatening  between  the  Northern  and  Southern 
States.  The  instant  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  young  Dewey  ap- 
plied for  active  service,  and  received  a  commission  as  lieutenant 
(passing  over  the  lower  grade  of  master,  equivalent  to  the  present 
lieutenant  junior  grade),  on  April  19,  18G0,  eight  days  after  the  fir- 
ing upon  Sumter;  and  he  immediately  left  his  home  to  join  the 
side-wheel  steam  sloop  of  war  Mississippi,  then  commanded  by 
Captain  Melancthon  Smith,  and  attached  to  the  squadron  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  where  the  United  States  had  just  taken  possession  of 
Ship  Island  off  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  as  a  naval  base. " 

This  vessel,  together  with  many  others,  was  engaged  in  the  block- 
ade of  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  River,  but  it  was  considered 
to  draw  so  much  water  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  it  to  cross  the 
bar.  Moreover,  there  was  for  a  long  time  a  strange  neglect  of  the 
strategic  advantage  and  duty  of  sending  a  suitable  naval  expedition 
into  the  Mississippi,  and   taking   possession  of  this  great  highwa}', 


u 


LIFE    OF    DFWEY. 


ment,  that 
anything  ef- 
fective was 
hegim  to  be 
(lone;  and  by 
that  time  the 
Confederates 
had    formed 

immensely  strong  defenses  al 
along  the  lower  river.  The 
plan,  which  was  put  into 
operation  in  the  spring  of 
18G2,  proposed  a  naval  ex- 
pedition, commanded  by 
Flag  Officer  Farragut,  in- 
tended to  reduce  the  forti- 
fications near  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  and  to  ca])- 
ture  New  Orleans,  to  bo 
followed   b}-   an    army  under 


which  might,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  civil  war,  have 
been  done  very  easily,  since 
the  Confederates  had  been 
equally  slow  in  recognizing 
the  vast  importance  of  this 
"backbone  of  the  Confeder- 
acy," and  in  fortifying  it  or 
preparing  to  defend  New  Or- 
leans, Yicksburg  and  other 
important  river  towns. 

It  was  'not,  however,  until 
the  end  of 
18G1,  when 
Com  mander 
David  D.Por- 
ter urged  ac- 
tion of  this 
kind  upon  the 
Nav}'  Depart- 


LIEITENANT  DEWEY.    1861. 


CIVIL   WAR   EXl'ERIENCES.  25 

General  B.  F.  Butler,  which  should  then  take  possession  of  that 
city  and  region,  after  which  the  war  vessels  would  proceed  up 
the  river,  reduce  the  forts  along  its  banks  and  co-operate  with  the 
gunboats  already  commanding  the  upper  part  of  the  valley,  and 
later  with  the  Union  armies  operating  in  Tennessee  and  northern 
Mississippi. 

This  plan  was  ultimately  carried  out,  but  it  required  more  time, 
cost  of  life  and  material,  and  hard  fighting  than  were  anticipated; 
and  it  gave  j'oung  Dewey  a  "baptism  of  fire"  such  as  falls  to  the  lot 
of  few  officers  of  the  navy  anywhere. 

The  first  obstacle  to  be  overcome  was  the  crossing  of  the  bar  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River,  in  the  Southwest  Pass,  where 
many  days  were  consumed  in  dragging  across  the  sand  the  large 
vessels  whose  draught  was  too  great  for  the  depth  of  the  channel. 
With  no  ship  was  greater  difficulty  experienced  than  with  that  in 
which  Dewey  was  now  the  executive  officer,  or  lieutenant  next  in 
command  to  the  captain.  It  was  necessary  to  take  out  of  her  all  her 
guns,  coal,  and  most  of  her  stores — lighten  her  almost  to  complete 
emptiness;  and  then,  after  days  of  ingenious  devices  and  hard  tow- 
ing, she  was  ultimately  dragged  across. 

She  was  not  as  large  as  the  Hartford  (Farragut's  flagship),  the 
Brooklyn,  Richmond  or  Pensacola,  frigates  carrying  from  twenty- 
four  to  twenty-six  guns  each,  since  she  had  only  twelve  guns;  but 
she  was  associated  with  them  in  the  foremost  place  of  dauger.  She 
was  the  only  side-wheeler  of  the  fleet,  and  like  all  the  rest  was  sim- 
ply a  wooden  vessel,  whose  only  semblance  to  armor  was  acquired 
temporarily  by  hanging  her  iron  anchor-cables  in  loops  over  the 
sides— advice  suggested  for  all  the  vessels  by  Farragut,  and  after- 
ward notably  employed  bj^  the  Kearsarge  in  her  momentous  duel 
with  the  Alabama  off  the  harbor  of  Cherbourg,  France. 

The  defenses  of  the  river  consisted  of  two  immensely  strong  forts, 
Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  on  the  banks  nearly  opposite  one  another 
and  about  midway  between  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  New 
Orleans.  Farther  up  there  was  also  a  series  of  strong  waterside  bat- 
teries at  Chalmette,  near  the  site  of  the  celebrated  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  in  ISU,  and  some  lesser  batteries  here  and  there,  the  whole 
mounting  as  many  and  as  good  guns  as  the  ships  could  bring  to 
bear.  In  addition  to  this  the  Confederates  had  established  a  line  of 
obstructions  across  the   river   below  the   forts,   consisting  of  huge 


2G  LIFE   OF   DEWEY. 

chaius  supported  upon  a  line  of  anchored  bulks  and  rafts;  a  great 
number  of  fire  rafts  intended  to  be  ignited  and  floated  down  against 
the  advancing  fleet;  and  a  number  of  ironclad  floating  batteries, 
rams  and  gunboats  protected  by  cotton-bale  walls,  which  were  sup- 
posed to  be  very  formidable.  On  the  whole  the  defenses  were  such 
as  it  was  supposed  no  naval  expedition  would  try  to  attack,  much 
less  succeed  in  reducing.  It  is  probable  that  no  fleet  alone  could 
have  overcome  this  opposition,  had  it  not  been  aided  by  Porter's  in- 
genious idea  of  a  preliminary  bombardment  which  should  weaken 
the  enemy's  works  and  demoralize  his  men.  This  effect  was  ac- 
complished by  the  novel  introduction  of  mortar  boats — a  flotilla  of 
twenty-one  schooners,  each  bearing  a  mortar  that  spouted  a  thirteen- 
inch  shell.  They  were  anchored  under  protection  of  the  banks  and 
forest  some  distance  below  the  forts,  and  for  many  daj's  rained  upon 
them  such  an  accurate,  incessant  and  awful  fire  as  to  half  destroy 
the  fortifications,  and  kill,  utterly  exhaust  or  unnerve,  a  large  part  of 
the  garrisons. 

At  the  end  of  this  preliminary  bombardment  a  concerted  attempt 
was  made  to  run  past  tlie  forts  and  the  Confederate  vessels  gathered 
near  tliem.  This  was  begun  about  half-pa^t  two  in  the  morning  of 
April  24,  18G2,  the  fleet  moving  forward  in  three  divisions,  the  first 
under  command  of  Captain  Thoodorus  Bailey  in  the  Cayuga,  fol- 
lowed closely  by  the  Pensacola  (afterward  under  Dewey's  command), 
and  that  by  the  Mississippi,  in  which  he  was  executive  lieutenant,  as 
has  been  said.  These  big  ships  were  compelled  to  keep  near  the 
west  bank  where  the  current  was  less  strong  and  the  water  deeper ; 
but  this  brought  them  right  under  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  of  Fort 
St.  Philip,  which  had  been  little  damaged  by  the  mortar  boats,  and 
where  every  gun  and  every  rifleman  was  ready  to  hurl  destruction 
into  the  daring  craft,  and  a  perfect  torrent  of  fire  illuminated  the 
night,  each  jet  sending  red-hot  shot  or  bursting  shells  jigainst  the 
frail  bulwarks  or  through  the  rigging. 

"On,  on  tliey  steamed"— to  quote  the  words  of  a  writer  in  the 
Review  of  lierieirs,  "a  slow,  stately  procession  that  knew  no  check, 
until  the  ilames  of  the  broadside  guns  leaped  into  the  very  ports  of 
the  batteries  and  the  shot  struck  in  midair.  So  close  were  they  tliat 
the  gunners  hurled  curses  at  each  other  across  the  narrow  sjiace  of 
black  water. 

"On  the  hi'di  l)ridge  of  the  side-wheeler,  in  the  midst  of  belching 


CIVIL   WAR   EXPERIENCES. 


27 


smoke  and  flame,  stood  Dewey,  guiding  the  Mississippi  as  calmly  as 
though  he  were  going  up  New  York  Bay  on  a  still  afternoon  in 
Indian  sunmier.     He  was  perfect  master  of  himself. 

"  'Do  you  know  the  channel,  Dewey?'  Captain  Smith  asked  anx- 
iously, and  more  than  once  as  he  paced  from  port  to  starboard. 
The  lieutenant  was  very  young,  only  twenty-four,  and  the  situation 
would  have  tried  a  veteran. 


ON  BOARD  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


"  'Yes,  sir,'  replied  Dewey,  with  confidence  every  time.  But  he 
admitted  afterward  that  he  expected  to  ground  any  moment." 

The  same  magazine  publishes  a  reminiscence  of  the  day  by  Chief 
Engineer  Baird,  United  States  Navy,  who  was  one  of  the  steamer's 
officers  on  that  terrible  night: 

"I  can  see  him  now  in  the  red   and  yellow  glare  flung  from  the 


28  LIFE    OF   DE\VEV. 

caimou-months.  It  was  like  some  terrible  thunder-storm  with 
almost  incessant  lightning.  For  an  instant  all  would  be  dark  and 
Dewey  unseen.  Then  the  forts  would  belch  forth,  and  there  he  was 
away  up  in  the  midst  of  it,  the  flames  from  the  guns  almost  touch- 
ing him,  and  the  big  shot  and  shell  passing  near  enough  to  him  to 
blow  him  over  with  their  breath,  while  he  held  firmly  to  the  bridge 
rail.  Every  time  the  dark  came  back  I  felt  sure  we  would  never  see 
Dewey  again.  But  at  the  next  flash  there  he  stood.  His  hat  was 
blown  ofi^  and  his  eyes  were  aflame.  But  he  gave  his  orders  with 
the  air  of  a  man  in  thorough  command  of  himself.  He  took  in  every- 
thing.    He  saw  a  point  of  vantage  and  seized  it  at  once." 

That  the  testimony  of  this  comrade — whose  own  coolness  and 
courage  must  have  been  very  great  to  allow  him  to  note  these  things 
in  the  midst  of  such  excitement  and  peril — ^is  not  overdrawn,  is 
shown  by  the  warm  words  of  his  commander,  Smith,  who  said  in  his 
official  report  of  the  battle: 

"I  have  much  pleasure  in  mentioning  the  efficient  service  rendered 
by  Executive  Officer  George  Dewey,  who  kept  the  vessel  in  her  sta- 
tion during  the  engagement,  a  task  exceedingly  difficult  from  the 
darkness  and  thick  smoke  that  enveloped  us  from  the  fire  of  our  ves- 
sel, and  the  burning  gunboats." 

But  the  story  is  yet  only  half  told,  for  it  fell  to  the  Mississippi  to 
perform  one  of  the  most  thrilling  and  important  services  of  the  day. 

The  Confederates  had  afloat  there  an  iron-covered  ram  called 
Manassas — a  cigar-shaped  craft,  almost  wholly  submerged  and  look- 
ing more  like  a  great  fish  whose  back  showed  round  above  the 
waves,  having  a  smokestack  for  a  dorsal  fin,  than  like  anything 
else;  but  the  fish's  nose  was  a  sharp  iron  prow,  designed  to  pierce 
the  hull,  beneath  the  water  line,  of  an  enemy's  ship. 

This  ram  had  been  greatly  feared,  and  showed  that  she  deserved 
it.  She  had  rushed  down  the  river  at  the  first  advance  of  the  fleet, 
and  darting  boldly  among  them,  had  struck  at  everything  in  her 
way.  Appearing  sudilenly  from  behind  the  Pensacola,  when  that 
vessel  was  slowing  up  opposite  Fort  St.  Philiji  to  enable  her  men  to 
fire  more  effectivelj'  into  the  faces  of  the  garrison,  she  had  made  a 
rush  for  the  Mississippi;  but  Dewe^-  was  on  the  alert,  and  steered 
his  helm  so  as  to  avoid  her  prow  and  escape  all  but  a  glancing  blow 
that  did  him  no  very  serious  damage.  Then,  her  upper  structure 
])ierced  with  his  shot,  but  her  machinery  uninjured,  the  ram  contin- 


CIVIL  WAR   EXPERIENCES.  '^-9 

ued  ou  her  destrncttive  errand,  acd  nearly  destroyed  both  the  Brook- 
lyn and  Hartford  before  she  was  driven  away.  Then  she  turnsd 
and  ran  up  the  river,  in  chase  of  Bailey's  ships,  which  were  leading 
the  way  so  triumphantly  toward  New  Orleans,  and  Farragut  sig- 
naled to  the  Mississippi  to  run  her  down  and  smash  her  at  all  haz- 
ards. Now  came  the  test  of  the  3'oung  lieutenant's  seamanship,  and 
it  stood  it;  the  Annapolis  training  and  the  middy's  cruising  experi- 
ence stepped  to  the  front  above  bookish  science.  The  sailor  and 
fighter  were  required  at  the  moment,  with  a  clear  head  and  a  stout 
heart.  The  emergency  called  for  practice,  not  theory ;  and  the  man 
of  action  was  there,  knowing  instantly  and  surelj"  what  to  do.  He 
comprehended  without  deliberation  the  right  order  to  give,  and  a 
moment  later  the  Mississippi  was  rushing  toward  the  foe.  But  he, 
too,  was  on  the  alert;  and  just  as  the  Union  vessel  was  to  override 
him,  dodged  the  blow  by  a  quick  t:n-n  of  the  helm  and  ran  ashore, 
where  the  crew  swarmed  out  and  deserted  the  stranded  hulk. 

Commander  Smith  sent  a  boat's  crew  to  set  fire  to  it;  and  when 
they  had  returned  ho  riddled  it  with  shot  until  the  half-consumed 
wreck  went  afloat,  drifted  a  while  and  then  sank  beyond  further 
harm  or  harmfulness. 

Having  got  past  the  forts  the  Mississippi  swept  up  the  river  with 
the  leading  ships,  until  they  came  to  the  Chalmette  batteries,  where 
Dewey's  guns  spoke  with  the  others  in  silencing  those  extensive  for- 
tifications and  sending  their  garrisons  on  the  run;  and  then  the  fine 
old  ship  was  sent  back  with  some  others  to  a  waiting  position  near 
the  forts,  to  protect  the  landing  of  Butler's  troops. 

Such  was  Dewey's  first  battle;  and  it  showed  that  the  heart  which 
had  made  him  stand  up  to  bullies  on  the  school  sward,  and  fight 
hard  and  long,  was  equal  to  these  deadlier  combats  where  all  the 
forces  of  gunnery  were  arrayed  against  one  another. 

For  the  remainder  of  that  year  all  that  Farragut's  flieet  attempted 
to  do  was  to  patrol  the  lower  river — ^an  annoying  and  dangerous 
duty,  for  the  banks  swarmed  with  sharpshooters,  lying  in  wait 
among  the  trees  to  pick  off  every  Union  man  whom  they  could  get 
a  shot  at.  Here  and  there,  also,  an  interval  of  quiet,  would  give  the 
Confederates  an  opportunity  to  erect  a  concealed  batter}-,  the  reduc- 
tion of  which  would  be  speedil}'  accomplished,  but  never  without 
injury  and  loss  of  life  on  the  part  of  the  attacking  ships.  They  had 
also  a  way  of  running  two  or  three  field  guns  up  behind  the  natural 


30  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

breastworks  afforded  by  the  levee,  and  unexpectedly  opening  fire 
upon  some  ship  passing  unsuspiciously  near  the  shore,  or  lying  at 
anchor  in  fancied  safety. 

At  Port  Hudson,  Louisiana,  the  Confederates  had  been  constructing 
and  strengthening  their  second  line  of  defense  of  the  river  valley 
during  all  this  time,  until  they  considered  it  impregnable.  The 
national  forces  had  been  unable  to  prevent  this;  but  when  the 
spring  campaign  of  1863  began  it  was  so  important  for  the  river  to  be 
opened,  and  for  the  naval  and  land  forces  below  to  be  able  to  co-op- 
erate with  Foote's  flotilla  of  gunboats  and  Grant's  army  above  Vicks- 
burg,  that  Farragut  resolved  to  attempt  to  run  by  the  Port  Hudson 
batteries,  if  he  could  not  demolish  them.  The  whole  fleet  was 
arranged  for  this  attempt  on  March  14,  18(i3,  at  midnight,  when 
Dewey  saw  fiercer  fighting  and  more  personal  danger  than  he  had 
known  before,  even  when  almost  in  the  flame  of  the  guns  of  Fort 
St.  Philip,  and  more  than   he  ever  saw  again  or  is  likeh'  to  see. 

Port  Hudson  was  and  is  a  small  town  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
great  river,  a  few  miles  below  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana,  at  a  point 
where  the  river  makes  a  bend  and  the  channel  winds  among  islands 
and  shoals  that  cause  the  i)assage  there  to  be  a  subject  of  anxiet}'  to 
pilots  even  in  daylight  and  in  time  of  peace. 

In  the  spring  of  1803  a  crescentic  series  of  powerful  fortifications, 
having  a  concentric  field  of  fire,  bordered  the  outside  of  the  bend. 
The  gunners  were  aided  at  night  b}''  the  illumination  of  the  water 
afforded  by  setting  fire  to  huge  beacons  and  rafts  of  pine  knots;  and 
bad  the  assistance  of  submarine  torpedoes  in  the  channel  and  of  sev- 
eral armed  vessels  and  rams  which  together  made  the  attempt  of  an 
enemy's  fleet  to  attack  or  run  by  the  place  seem  utterly  foolhardy — 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  only  wooden  ships  were  at  hand  in  which 
to  make  the  overbold  trial. 

Nevertheless  Flag-Oflicer  Farragut,  with  the  full  consent  of  his 
captains,  prepared  to  try  it.  The  fleet,  led  by  the  admiral's  flag- 
ship, the  famous  Hartford,  stole  up  the  river  in  midnight  darkness 
and  quiet,  and  were  not  discovered  until  opposite  the  forts,  when 
a  rocket  rose  from  the  shore,  and  a  gun  spoke,  instantly  answered 
from  the  Hartford. 

Following  the  flagship,  so  closely  that  it  was  with  difficulty  she 
avoided  colliding  with  her,  came  the  Richmond,  her  guns  blazing 
incessantly;  and  then  came  the  Monongahela,  the  Kineo  and  the 


CIVIL   WAR   EXPERIENCES.  31 

Mississippi — the  last  still  in  charge  of  George  Dewey  as  executive 
officer,  under  Melancton  Smith  as  commander.  All  these  ships  were 
fighting  furiously  while  the  shore-guns,  sometimes  only  fifty  or 
sixty  yards  away,  were  replying  as  fast  as  they  could  he  worked. 
The  roar  of  cannon  was  incessant,  and  the  flashes  of  the  guns,  to- 
gether with  the  rose-red  flight  of  the  shells  from  the  distant  mortar 
boats,  made  a  combination  of  sounds  and  sights  that  can  hardly  be 
imagined. 

Into  this  mingled  beauty  and  horror  of  war  the  young  officer,  on 
the  high  bridge  of  the  Mississippi,  coolly  and  skillfully  guided  his 
vessel,  which  was  pervious  to  every  ball  that  came  from  the 
enemy's  works.  It  would  be  difficult  to  prepare  a  situation  much 
more  dreadful  or  perplexing.  "To  add  to  the  horrors  of  the  night," 
writes  an  eyewitness,  "while  it  contributed  toward  the  enhance- 
ment of  a  certain  terrible  beauty,  dense  clouds  of  smoke  began  to 
envelop  the  river,  shutting  out  from  view  the  several  vessels  and 
confounding  them  with  the  batteries.  It  was  very  difficult  to  know 
how  to  steer  to  prevent  running  ashore,  perhaps  right  under  a  Con- 
federate battery,  or  into  a  consort.  ,  .  .  So  thick  was  the 
smoke  that  we  had  to  cease  firing  several  times  .  .  .  and  the 
battle  of  Port  Hudson  has  been  pronounced  by  officers  and  seamen 
who  were  engaged  in  it,  and  who  were  present  at  the  passage  of 
Fort  St.  Philip  and  Fort  Jackson,  as  the  severest  in  the  naval  his- 
tory of  the  civil  war." 

The  Hartford  got  past  and  sailed  on;  but  an  accident  to  her 
machinery  compelled  the  Richmond  to  try  to  turn  around  and  es- 
cape before  it  was  too  late.  She  did  so  successfully;  but  when  at 
the  center  of  the  semicircle  of  batteries  the  Mississippi,  close  behind 
her,  ran  aground,  and  instantly  there  was  concentrated  upon  her  the 
whole  of  the  enemy's  fire.  This  deadly  work  continued  for  half  an 
hour,  the  Confederates  pouring  a  perfect  shower  of  shot  and  shell, 
which  riddled  her  hull,  ruined  her  upper  works  and  smashed  her 
machinery.  All  this  time  the  fated  vessel  was  replying  with  such 
vigor  that  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  shots  were  sent  ashore 
in  spite  or.  the  frightful  punishment  the  vessel  was  getting;  and  the 
executive  officer  directed  the  shooting  as  coolly  as  before. 

Then  Captain  Smith,  seeing  that  there  could  be  no  hope  of  saving 
the  ship,  ordered  every  man  to  leave  her. 

"But  before  3'ou  go  spike  the  guns,"  shouted  Dewey;  and  he  saw 
that  the  order  was  obeyed. 


';^Ji£iaL:m'.jim^.,  j 


OLYMPIA— FLAGSHIP   OF  THE   ASIATll 

The  Olympia  is  an  unarmored  protected  cruiser,  havinji  a  displacement  of  5  | 

prepared  for  action,  21I4  feet.     She  is  practically  a  sister  ship  of  tin  ; 

than  either,  reaching  21  686  knots  anTiour  on  her  official  tn  | 

imum  of  i  epairs  during  her  constant  and  arduoi  1 

flag  officer  and  his  personal  staff,  a   1 


UADRON  IN  THE  BATTLE  OE  MANILA. 

ns     Her  length  is  ,40  feet;  her  breadth,  53  feet;  and  her  mean  draft,  when 
.mbia  and  ?he  Minneapolis,  but  exhibits  a  slightly  greater  speed 
he  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $i.7q6,ooo  and  has  required  a  min- 
vice.     She  requires  34  offlcers,  exclusive  of  the 
r  complement  of  men  numbers  416. 


34  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

The  boats  were  then  manned,  the  wounded  (there  were  surpris- 
ingh"  few,  considering  the  punishment  received)  were  transported  to 
the  Union  gunboat  Genessee,  which  had  approached  to  render  as- 
sistance ;  the  men  were  mostly  landed  in  safety  on  the  west  bank, 
and  a  journey  was  made  to  and  from  the  Richmond  to  place 
wounded  men  and  oflficers  on  that  vessel. 

All  of  this  time  the  fire  of  the  batteries  continued,  and  Captain 
Smith  and  Lieutenant  Dewe}-  stayed  on  board  and  directed  opera- 
tions. A  man  was  next  sent  to  set  fire  to  the  fore  storeroom,  and 
did  so;  but  before  his  blaze  got  well  started,  three  of  the  enemy's 
cannon-balls  came  through  that  part  of  the  ship  and  let  in  water 
enough  to  drown  the  flames.  Then  other  fires  were  started  else- 
where in  the  cabins  and  hull,  and  the  last  boatload  waited  to  see 
that  they  got  well  a-going,  for  it  was  not  intended  that  the  Con- 
federates should  profit  bj'  the  capture  of  a  good  ship. 

"Are  you  sure  it  will  burn,  Dewey?"  asked  the  captain,  when 
none  but  the  two  remained  on  the  shell-swept  decks;  and  in  reply 
the  gallant  j^oung  lieutenant  went  again  to  the  cabin,  reported  the 
fire  blazing  effectually',  and  exhibited  burned  coat  tails  to  show 
how  true  was  his  statement.  Then  both  officers  leaped  into  the  last 
boat,  and  made  their  way  through  a  storm  of  cannon  balls  and 
rifle  bullets  to  the  friendly  shelter  of  the  Richmond,  a  mile  below. 

Lightened  of  weight  by  the  fire  and  by  the  removal  of  some  three 
hundred  men,  the  ship  presently  lifted  her  keel  from  the  treacherous 
mud  and  floated  down  the  river,  firing  her  still  shotted  guns  and 
exploding  one  by  one  the  shells  that  la}'  upon  her  decks,  until  she 
became  almost  as  dangerous  to  the  Richmond  and  other  Federal 
vessels  near  which  she  drifted  as  she  would  have  been  had  an  ac- 
tive foe  been  guiding  her  helm. 

Standing  on  the  deck  of  the  Richmond,  Dewey  watched  the  good 
old  ship  that  had  won  such  historic  renown  in  all  the  oceans  of  the 
globe,  rmd  had  been  the  scene  of  so  momentous  a  year  of  his  life, 
drift,  blazing  and  glorious,  fighting  to  the  last  with  invisible  ene- 
mies and  guided  by  unseen  hands — a  sort  of  furious  spirit  of  a  ship, 
expiring  in   a  terrific  explosion  as  the  fire  reached  her  magazines, 

Dewey,  like  every  one  else,  lost  everything  he  possessed  in  the  de- 
struction of  his  ship. 

He  was  highly  complimented,  however,  not  onh'  by  Porter  and 
other  of  his  more   ininiediate  superiors,  but   b}'  Farragut  himself. 


CIVIL  WAR   EXPERIENXES.  35 

who  now  appointed  him  executive  officer  of  the  Agawam — a  small 
gunboat,  which  the  admiral  made  frequent  use  of  as  a  dispatch 
boat,  and  for  his  personal  reconnoitering.  This  little  vessel  was  fre- 
quently fired  at,  by  concealed  sharpshooters  or  temporarj"  batteries, 
as  has  been  explained  ;  and  a  story  has  been  told  of  one  such  occa- 
sion which  illustrates  both  the  service  and  the  men. 

Once,  when  Farragut  was  aboard  and  had  sailed  close  up  to  the 
levee  to  examine  something  he  was  interested  in,  the  enemj^  sud- 
denly ran  up  a  couple  of  field  guns  and  opened  a  point-blank  fire. 
Farragut  saw  Dewey  duck  at  a  passing  shot,  and  remarked  to  him : 

"Why  don't  you  stand  firm.  Lieutenant?  Don't  you  know  you 
can't  jump  quick  enough?" 

A  day  or  so  after  the  admiral  dodged  a  shot.  The  lieutenant 
smiled  and  held  his  tongue;  but  the  admiral  had  a  guilty  con- 
science. He  cleared  his  throat  once  or  twice,  shifted  his  attitude, 
and  finally  declared : 

"Why,  sir,  you  can't  help  it,  sir.  It's  human  nature,  and  there's 
an  end  to  it!" 

In  July  of  that  year  these  covert  attacks  brought  about  a  sharp 
little  fight  at  Donaldsonville,  Louisiana,  in  which  Captain  Abner 
Read,  commander  of  the  Monongahela,  was  killed  and  his  executive 
officer  severely  wounded.  Dewey  was  present,  and  was  so  conspic- 
uous for  gallantry  that  he  was  recommended  for  promotion  on  the 
strength  of  it;  and  meanwhile  he  was  given  command  temporarily 
of  this  fine  frigate. 

In  the  latter  part  of  18G4,  after  some  service  in  the  James  River 
under  Commander  McComb,  Lieutenant  Dewey  was  made  executive 
officer  of  the  first-rate  wooden  man-of-war  Colorado,  which  was 
stationed  on  the  North  Atlantic  blockading  squadron  under  command 
of  Commodore  Henry  Knox  Thatcher. 

The  blockade  was  an  exceedingly  important  part  of  the  plan  of 
the  war,  and  it  was  no  reflection  upon  an  officer's  courage  or  effi- 
ciency to  be  appointed  upon  it.  On  the  contrary,  that  service  called 
for  the  highest  ability,  not  only  in  vigilance  and  activity,  but  in 
quickness  and  coolness  in  an  emergency. 

The  blockade  was  never  made  so  perfect  that  no  vessels  could  pass 
through,  but  it  became  nearly  so  toward  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
this  was  a  matter  of  international  importance  as  well  as  bellig- 
erent value  in  stopping  the  Confederates  from  receiving  the  for- 
eign supplies  upon  which  they  so  largely  depended. 


36  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

"Large  numbers  of  blockade  runners  were  captured  or  driven 
ashore  and  wrecked.  The  profit  on  a  single  cargo  that  passed  either 
way  in  safety  was  very  gieat,  and  special  vessels  for  blockade  run- 
ning were  built  in  England.  The  Confederate  government  enacted 
a  law  providing  that  a  certain  portion  of  every  cargo  thus  brought 
into  its  ports  must  consist  of  arms  or  ammunition,  otherwise  vessel 
and  all  would  be  confiscated.  This  insured  a  constant  suppl)'. 
,  .  .  Clothing  and  equipments,  too,  for  the  Confederate 
armies  came  from  the  same  source.  ...  To  pay  for  these 
things,  the  Confederates  sent  out  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  and  the  naval 
stores  produced  by  the  North  Carolina  forests." 

Strenuous  efforts  were  constantly  made  to  shut  off  this  trade  and 
communication,  which  made  the  traders  of  Great  Britain  and  other 
European  nations  practically  allies  of  the  confederacy,  and  such  offi- 
cers as  Lieutenant  George  Dewey  had  shown  himself  to  be  were 
needed,  especially  in  the  North  Atlantic  division,  which  covered 
such  ports  as  Wilmington,  where  blockade  running  flourished. 

It  was  to  close  the  port  of  Wilmington,  as  much  as  to  reduce  the 
only  coast  fortification  left  to  the  South,  that  a  powerful  expedi- 
tion, in  which  thenav}'  was  to  co-operate  with  the  army,  was  organ- 
ized against  Fort  Fisher,  at  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River,  in  the 
early  winter  of  1804-5.  An  attack  delivered  at  Christmas  proved 
a  failure,  and  the  land  forces  were  largely  withdrawn  for  service 
elsewhere.  The  navy  remained,  however,  and  in  the  middle  of  Jan- 
uary made  a  second  attack,  assisted  by  some  soldiers  under  Terr}-, 
who  were  reinforced  by  marines  and  sailors  from  the  ships. 

This  was  one  of  the  hardest  fought  engagements  on  land  and  sea 
of  the  civil  war;  and  it  resulted  in  a  Federal  victorj',  in  which  the 
navy,  afloat  and  ashore,  carried  off  the  piiucipal  honors. 

The  Colorado,  being  a  wooden  ship,  was  placed  in  the  line  outside 
the  monitors  and  other  armored  vessels;  but  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected Dewey  managed  to  get  for  her  a  full  share  of  the  fighting. 

"Toward  the  end  of  the  second  engagement,  when  matters  were 
moving  the  right  way,  Admiral  Porter  signaled  Thatcher  to  close  in 
and  silence  a  certain  part  of  the  works.  As  the  ship  had  already 
received  no  inconsiderable  damage,  her  officers  remonstrated.  But 
Dewey,  who,  in  addition  to  dash  and  bravery,  had  now  acquired 
marked  tactical  ability,  was  quick  to  see  the  advantage  to  be  gained 
by  the  move.      'We  shall  be  safer  in  there,'  he  said  quietly,  *and  the 


PEACE    AND    PROMOTION.  37 

work  can  be  taken  in  fifteen  minutes.'  It  was.  The  New  York 
Times,  commenting  upon  this  part  of  the  action,  spoke  of  it  as  'tho 
most  beautiful  duel  of  the  war.'  When  Admiral  Porter  came  to 
congratulate  Commodore  Thatcher  the  latter  said  generously : 
"  'You  must  thank  Lieutenant  Dewey,  sir.  It  was  his  move.'  " 
Nevertheless  Thatcher  was  promoted  to  be  a  rear-admiral  and 
tried  to  take  Dewey  with  him  as  his  fleet  captain  when  he  w^ent  to 
supersede  Farragut  at  Mobile  Bay.  This  was  not  permitted,  but 
Dewey  was  promoted  to  be  a  lieutenant-commander. 


VL 

Peace  and  Promotion. 

After  the  close  of  the  civil  war  Lieutenant-Commander  Dewey 
remained  in  active  service,  and  was  sent  to  the  European  station  as 
executive  officer  of  the  Kearsarge — the  famous  old  ship  that  had 
sunk  the  privateer  Alabama.  After  a  year  of  this,  he  was  as- 
signed to  duty  in  the  navy  yard  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire, 
and  there  met  the  lady  who  became  his  wife. 

The  story  of  the  courtship  was  told  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Mary 
Greeley,  now  dwelling  in  Montpelier,  to  the  representative  of  The 
New  Voice,  of  New  York,  as  follows: 

"  'Let  me  show  you  a  sweet  picture — one  that  very  few  people  ever 
see,'  she  said  softly,  as  she  drew  from  its  hiding-place  a  small 
photograph.  It  was  a  copy  of  another  picture,  and  a  bit  dim,  but 
it  revealed  a  madonna  face  of  peculiar  loveliness.  'That,'  she 
said,  her  eyes  swimming  with  tears — 'that  is  Susie,  George's  wife. 
There  are  some  things  that  are  sacred,  you  know.  That  is  one  of 
them." 

"I  had  not  the  heart, "  says  the  writer,  "to  press  her  with  questions 
about  the  matter.  I  knew  the  story  of  the  picture  already.  The 
family  seldom  mention  it  outside  the  home  circle.  Thirty-two 
years  ago,  Lieutenant  Dewey  was  stationed  at  Portsmouth,  and 
there  met  Susie  Goodwin,  daughter  of  New  Hampshire's  'war  gov- 
ernor,' a  Democrat  who  fitted  out  troops  for  the  war  at  his  own  ex- 
pense.    Lieutenant  Dewey  and  Commander  Rhind,  of  the  Narra- 


38 


LIFE   OF   DEWEY, 


^^ 


^^-v^ 


gansett,  for  a  time 
alternated  in  their 
calls  at  the  Good- 
win home;  but  the 
commander  sailed 
away,  leaving  the 
coast  clear  for  the 
yonng    lieutenant. 
The  w  e  d  d  1  n  <^ 
took   place  in   the 
old   mansion     on 
October   2-i,    ISO:. 
Shortly  afterward, 
George  was  or- 
dered away  for  a 
two-years'     cruise 
in    European    wa- 
ters,    leaving    his 
young    bride    at 
Portsmouth,     but 
carrying      in     his 
bosom  her  favorite 
picture.   At  Rome, 
a  celebrated    Ital- 
ian   artist    made 
from    it,   for  him, 
two  miniatures  on  ivory.     One  of  these  was  afterward  lost  at  sea. 
Later  events  made  the  other  too  precious  to  carry  on  an}-  voyage. 
It  is  among  the  Goodwin  family  treasures  at  the  Portsmouth  home." 
Dewey  came  back  from    his  European  cruise   a   commander,  and 
was  stationed  at  Newport  in  command  of  the  Narragansett.     There 
his  bride  joined  him,  and  less  than  three  more  years  of  wedded  life 
ended  the  union.     In  1X72  a  child  was  born— George  Goodwin  they 
called  him— but  within  a  week  the  young  mother's  spirit  Hew  up- 
ward.    This  son  and  this  picture  remain  to  remind  Admiral  Dewe}- 
of  liis  life's  sweet  dream  that  ended  in  such  a  cloud— his  first  and 
only  love.     In  1807  George  Goodwin  Dewey  graduated  at  Prince- 
ton, and  is  now  with  a  mercantile  establishment  in  New  York. 
Our  hero's  next  tour  of  duty  was  in  1807  and  1808  as  executive 


SUSIE  GOODWIN  (MRS.  DEWEY). 
Copy  of  tlie  ivory  miniature  made  at  Rome,  Italy,  shortly  befon 
Mrs.  Dewey's  death. 


PEACE    AND    PROMOTION. 


39 


officer  of  the  Colorado — the  same  fine  old  vessel  in  which  he  had 
wou  his  honors  at  Fort  Fisher,  and  now  the  flagship  of  the  European 
squadron. 

Of  this  cruise  many  anecdotes  have  been  recalled  by  shipmates. 
One  tells  how,  in  a  gale  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  the  Colorado  got  into 
a  very  dangerous  situation  on  a  lee  shore,  and  Dewey  sprang  into 
the  rigging  and  went  out  upon  the  yards,  partly  to  lend  the  help  of 
his  arms,  but  mainly  to  encourage  the  men  to  put  forth  their  utmost 
efforts  in  handling  the  sails  so  as  to  carry  the  good  ship  to  safety. 

The  admiral  in  command  of  the  ship  and  squadron  was  that 
hearty  old  sea-dog  Goldsborough,  and  one  of  Dewey's  companions 
was  John  Crittenden  Watson — the  same  man,  who,  as  rear-admiral, 
relieved  Admiral  Dewey  of  his  duties  at  Manila,  when  he  wished 
to  return  to  the  United  States  in  the  summer  of  1899. 

Some  tranquil  3^ears  followed  the  end  of  Dewey's  cruise  in  the 
Colorado.  For  two  years,  from  1868  to  1870,  he  was  an  instructor 
at  the  Naval  Academy,  where  he  became  one  of  the  most  popular, 
although  among  the  strictest  of  the  preceptors.  His  cheery  quarters 
on  the  Sautee  are  well  remembered.  The  next  year  he  did  special 
surveying  work  in  the  steamer 
Narragansett,  and  in  1872  was 
given  command  of  that  vessel, 
and  spent  nearly  four  years  in 
her,  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  Survey. 

This  entitled  him  to  a  period  of 
rest  ashore;  and  he  was  ordered  to 
Washington,  and  made  light- 
house inspector  in  1870,  and  sub- 
sequently secretary  of  the  light- 
house board,  a  service  in  which  he 
took  great  interest.  Meanwhile 
he  had  been  promoted  to  the 
grade  cf  commander. 

This  residence  in  Washington 
as  a  bureau  officer  of  high  rank 
gave  him  an  extensive  acquaint- 
ance, and  he  became  one  of  the 
most  popular  men  in  the  capital.  oeorge  goodwin  dewey. 


40  LIFE   0¥   DEWKY. 

.  He  lived  principally  at  the  Metropolitan  Club,  the  leading  social 
club  of  Washington;  and  the  members  say  that  whenever  he 
was  on  their  house  committee  the  improvement  in  the  kitchen 
and  dining  room  was  most  pleasantly  noticeable.  It  is  certain 
that  he  has  always  been  extremely  popular,  in  Washington  and 
elsewhere,  as  a  clubman  and  a  social  guest,  having  the  ability 
CO  amuse  as  well  as  to  be  gracefully  serious  in  social  company. 
He  has  always  been  noted,  also,  for  nicety  of  dress,  and  for  a  certain 
elegance  of  deportment  rather  unexpected  in  a  man  known  in 
the  service  to  be  so  hard  a  worker  and  so  reckless  a  fighter. 

In  1882  this  vacation  time  in  Washington  came  to  an  end  by  his 
being  sent  to  the  Asiatic  station  in  command  of  the  Juniata,  where 
he  studied  the  situation  with  care  and  acquired  information  of  im- 
mense importance  ten  years  later.  The  rank  of  captain  was 
reached  in  1884,  and  he  was  ordered  home  and  given  command  of 
the  Dolphin — one  of  the  first  four  of  the  original  white  squadron, 
which  formed  the  basis  of  the  new  and  modern  navy  of  the  United 
States.  The  Dolphin  was  intended  as  a  dispatch  hoat,  and  was 
often  used  as  "the  president's  yacht;"  and  it  is  quite  likely  that 
Captain  Dewey's  well-known  qualit}^  of  "good  fellow"  caused  this 
pojjular  assignment  to  be  given  him,  (piite  as  much  as  it  was  due  to 
his  professional  skill. 

His  sense  of  seamanship  and  disci jili no  was  not  lost,  however, 
either  in  the  social  glitter  or  the  nautical  novelty  of  his  new  com- 
mand, if  the  following  newspaper  story  may  be  credited  : 

One  day  a  sailor,  who  held  a  special  position,  some  sort  of  a  clerk 
or  yeoman,  refused  to  obey  an  order  of  the  executive  lieutenant  on 
the  Dol{)hin,  pleading  that  it  was  outside  of  his  line  of  duty.  Find- 
ing remonstrance  useless  the  officer  reported  this  grave  dereliction  to 
the  captain,  who  called  the  man  before  him. 

To  have  Dewey  simply  look  hard  at  him,  with  those  piercing 
bla(!k  eyes,  usually  sufficed  to  bring  a  misbehaving  Jacky  to  terms; 
but  this  man  was  unmoveil. 

"What!"  said  the  captain,  "you  still  refuse  to  obey?  Do  you  not 
know  that  tliat  is  mutiny?  Your  oath  on  your  enlistment  bound  you 
to  obey  your  superior  officers,  regardless  of  what  they  required  in 
the  line  of  service.     Think  of  it." 

The  man  was  silent  and  inmiovable.  A  moment  later  the  captain 
ordered  up  a  file  ot  marines,  stood   the  recalcitrant  sailor  on  the  far 


PEACE   AND    PROMOTION.  41 

side  of  the  deck,  bade  the  marines  load  their  guns,  and  took  out  his 
watch. 

"Now,  my  man,"  said  he;  "you  have  just  five  minutes  in  which 
to  obey  that  order." 

He  began  to  call  off  the  minutes — one — two — three — four 

The  yeoman  turned  and  fled  to  the  place  w^here  he  had  been  or- 
dered, and  he  has  been  earnest  ever  since  in  advising  his  fellows  not 
to  "monkey  with  the  Old  Man." 

His  relations  with  his  men  have  always  been  stern,  yet  kindly. 
They  have  everywhere  admired  and  respected  and  trusted  him,  even 
although  he  did  not  elicit  the  affectionate  regard  some  commanders 
are  able  to  evoke.  The  loyalty  and  trust  borne  toward  him  by 
every  man  in  the  squadron  was  one  of  the  elements  that  most 
strongly  contributed  to  his  success  at  Manila.  The  New  York  Sun 
contained,  recently,  a  story  told  of  his  methods  of  discipline. 

"We  hadn't  been  to  sea  with  him  long,"  said  the  narrator,  refer- 
ring to  a  European  cruise,  "before  we  got  next  to  how  he  despised 
a  liar.  One  of  the  petty  officers  went  asb.ore  at  Gibraltar,  got 
mixed  up  with  the  soldiers  in  the  canteens  on  the  hill,  and  came  off 
to  the  ship  paralyzed.  He  went  before  the  captain  at  the  mast  the 
next  morning.     He  gave  Dewey  the 'two-beers-and-sunstruck'  yarn. 

"  'You're  lying,  my  man,'  said  Dewey.  'You  were  very  drunk. 
I  myself  heard  you  aft  in  my  cabin.  I  will  not  have  my  men  lie  to 
me.  I  don't  expect  to  find  total  abstinence  in  a  man-o'-war  crew. 
But  I  do  expect  them  to  tell  me  the  truth,  and  I  am  going  to  have 
them  tell  me  the  truth.  Had  you  told  me  candidly  that  you  took 
a  drop  too  much  on  j'our  liberty,  you'd  have  been  forward  by  this 
time,  for  you,  at  least,  returned  to  the  ship.  For  lying  you  get  ton 
days  in  irons.  Let  me  have  the  truth  hereafter.  I  am  told  you  are 
a  good  seaman.     A  good  seaman  has  no  business  lying. ' 

"After  that  there  were  few  men  aboard  who  didn't  throw  them- 
selves on  the  mercy  of  the  court  when  they  waltzed  up  to  the  stick 
before  Dewey,  and  none  of  us  ever  lost  anything  by  it.  He'd  have 
to  punish  us  in  accordance  with  regulations,  but  bo  bad  a  groat  way 
of  ordering  the  release  of  men  he  had  sentenced  to  the  brig  before 
their  time  was  half-worked  out." 

In  1885  Captain  Dewey  undertook  another  tour  of  sea  service,  and 
for  three  j^ears  was  in  command  of  the  Pensaeola(familiar  to  him 
in  the  New  Orleans  fights),  now  flagship  of  the  European  squadron. 


42  I>IFE   OF   DEWEV. 

Returning  to  Washington  in  ]S93  he  resumed  the  life  of  a  bureau 
officer,  being  attached  to  tbe  lighthouse  board,  and  remained  there 
until  ISOG.  when  he  was  commissioned  commodore,  and  transferred 
to  the  board  of  inspection  and  survey. 


VII. 

Victory. 

Commodore  Dewey  felt,  in  1897,  that  his  health  was  suffering 
in  the  climate  and  inaction  of  Washington,  and  applied  for  sea 
duty.  It  was  granted  to  him,  and  he  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  Asiatic  station.  It  has  been  questioned  whether  this  suited 
this  officer,  who  was  so  fond  of  his  work.  He  felt  certain,  as  did  so 
many  others  at  Washington  that  year,  that  war  with  Spain  was  im- 
minent; and  it  is  said  that  he  shared  in  the  popular  belief  that  it 
would  be  confined  to  West  Indian  waters,  or  at  least  to  the  North 
Atlantic.  Hence  he  may  have  feared  that  duty  to  China  was  likely 
to  keep  him  out  of  active  participation  in  the  conflict,  for  few  had 
thought  of  the  Philippines  as  a  field  of  serious  war. 

On  the  other  hand,  an  opposite  view  seems  to  be  nearer  the  truth. 
This  view  is  well  stated  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Stickney,  who  was  closer  to 
our  hero  in  the  Philippine  campaign  than  any  other  writer. 

"It  has  been  said,"  he  writes,  "that  Commodore  Dewey  sought 
to  obtain  the  command  of  the  Asiatic  station  because  he  foresaw 
the  opportunity  that  was  to  come  to  him.  In  one  sense  this  is  true. 
Dewey  has  always  been  a  man  of  action,  a  natural  fighter.  That 
he  went  gladly  to  the  East  Indies  command,  when  at  least  two  other 
flag  officers  could  have  had  it  if  they  had  wanted  it,  and  that  he 
preferred  taking  service  afloat  to  any  kind  of  comfortable  duty  on 
shore,  is  true;  but  it  was  the  seaman's  instinct  that  led  him,  rather 
than  any  prophetic  power.  There  were  several  questions  of  grave 
imi)ortance  likely  to  come  before  the  country,  and  Conmiodore 
Dewey  knew  that  the  man  in  command  at  sea  is  the  man  who  is  in 
a  position  to  make  opportunities  for  himself;  while  the  men  who 
cling  to  easy  billets  ashore  must — when  war  clouds  threaten — stand 
aroimd  and  wait  for  chances  to  come  to  them. 


VICTORY 


43 


"It  was  no  mere  chance  that  put  George  Dewey  in  command  in  the 
East;  it  was  the  logical  working  out  of  the  principles  of  a  lifetime. 
The  men  who  had  always  had  sufficient  influence  to  keep  them  in 
time  of  peace  in  easy  places  in  New  York  and  Washington,  while 
others  did  the  hard  work  of  the  service  at  sea,  discovered  that  all 
their  influence  could  not  give  them  the  places  of  danger  and  of  honor 
in  time  of  war.  It  was  a  good  lesson  for  the  navy,  and  it  should 
be  remembered  by  every  young  officer." 

The  Commodore  hoisted  his  flag  at  Hongkong  in  December,  1897, 
and  instantly  began  preparations  for  warlike  service. 


THE  ASIATIC  SQUADRON  IN  THE  HARBOR  OF  HONGKONG. 


As  early  as  January,  indeed,  the  Navy  Department  began  to  send 
him  prophetic  instructions,  as  it  was  doing  to  other  commanders 
imder  the  foresighted  and  energetic  administration  of  Secretaries 
John  D.  Long  and  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Commodore  Dewey  was  ordered  in  January  to  retain  all  enlisted 
men  whose  terms  had  expired ;  and  a  month  later  was  told  to  keep 
the  Olympia,  instead  of  sending  her  back  to  San  Francisco.  On  the 
contrary,  he  was  instructed  to  assemble  all  his  squadron  at  Hong- 


44  LIFE   OF   DEWEY, 

kong,  and  to  fill  all  the  bunkers  with  the  best  coal  to  be  bought. 
At  the  same  time  the  cruiser  Baltimore  was  dispatched  to  him  from 
this  country,  via  Hawaii;  and  at  Honolulu  was  met  by  the  steamer 
Mohican  from  San  Francisco,  which  transferred  to  her  a  shipload 
of  ammunition,  prudently  sent  far  in  advance  of  its  possible  use. 

Dewey's  ships  were  scattered  up  and  down  the  Asiatic  coast;  but 
by  the  end  of  March  the  whole  squadron,  except  the  antiquated 
wooden  Monocacy,  had  been  gathered  in  the  port  of  Hongkong, 
their  coal  and  stores  replenished  to  the  fullest.  Then  came  a  period 
of  waiting,  very  tedious,  not  only,  but  accompanied  by  constant 
strain,  and  fretted  b}'  little  news  and  many  false  rumors. 

"With  much  anxiety,  and  always  on  the  alert  all  through  the  trying 
time  of  suspense,  the  connnodore  was  constantly  making  ready.  First 
he  sent  the  fleet  paymaster  over  to  the  consignees  of  the  English 
steamship  Nanshan,  and  bought  her  as  she  was,  with  3,300  tons  of 
good  Cardiff  coal  on  board.  Then  he  bought  the  Zafiro,  a  steam- 
ship of  the  Manila-Hongkong  line,  just  as  she  was,  with  all  her 
fuel  and  provisions,  and  on  her  was  placed  all  the  spare  ammuni- 
tion, so  that  she  became  the  magazine  of  the  fleet. 

*'0n  April  18th,  the  McCulloch  came  in  and  joined  the  squadron. 
She  was  only  a  revenue  cutter,  it  is  true,  but  she  was  as  good  as  a 
gunboat,  being  built  of  steel,  having  1,500  tons  displacement,  and 
carrying  four  4-inch  guns  and  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
men,  all  ready  to  fight.  ...  On  the  21st,  when  General  Woodford 
was  leaving  Madrid,  and  Sefior  Polo  was  slij)ping  out  of  Washing- 
ton, the  Baltimore  appeared,  a  powerful  addition  to  the  fleet,  and 
bringing  also  her  load  of  ammunition,  so  that  she  was  doubly  wel- 
come." 

As  the  news  now  daily  published  in  Hongkong  made  war  seem  cer- 
tain, all  the  beautiful  white  vessels  were  repainted  war-gray, 
and  the  last  possible  preparations  made.  All  doubt  was  ended 
when  the  cable  brought  word  of  the  declaration  of  wrt,  to  date  from 
April  22d.  and  also  of  England's  declaration  of  neutrality.  Word 
was  therefore  sent  to  the  American  commander  by  the  Governor  of 
Hongkong  that  his  vessels  could  no  longer  be  harbored  there. 
That  was  no  hardsiiip,  for  they  were  as  completely  outfitted  as  they 
cared  to  be,  and  only  a  few  miles  away  were  the  Chinese  waters  of 
Mirs  Bay,  where  nobody  would  or  could  interfere  with  their  anchor- 
age.    Thither   Dewey   took   his   ships   on   April   *^5th,  leaving  the 


VICTORY.  45 

MoCulloch  to  bring  last  dispatches;  and  the  next  daj-  she  joined 
the  fleet  in  a  hurry,  taking  to  the  commander  the  following  fate- 
ful message  from  the  Government  of  the  United  States : 

'^ Dewey,  Asiatic  Squadron: 

"  War  has  commenced  between  the  United  States  and  Spain.  Pro- 
ceed at  once  to  Philippine  Islands.  Commence  operations  at  once, 
particularly  against  the  Spanish  fleet.  You  must  capture  vessels 
or  destroy.     Use  utmost  endeavors.  Long." 

This  was  on  the  2Gth.  At  two  p.  m.  the  next  day,  April  27, 
Dewey's  squadron  was  leaving  Mirs  Bay  for  the  Philippine  Islands, 
in  search  of  another  squadron  of  warships  as  large  and  as  new  and 
as  well-armed  as  itself,  to  seek  the  first  naval  encounter  of  modern 
ships  and  with  modern  ordnance. 

Let  us  examine  this  fleet  as  it  falls  into  column  and  steams  out 
into  that  rough,  typhoon-swept  six  hundred  miles  of  water  that  sep- 
arates the  Chinese  coast  from  the  Spanish  archipelago. 

The  flagship  is  the  Olympia,  a  first-class  steel  cruiser  of  5,870 
tons,  protected  by  steel  deck  plates,  steel-covered  barbettes,  gun 
shields  and  conning  tower,  and  a  cellulose  belt  thirty-three  inches 
thick  and  eight  feet  broad.  Her  main  battery  is  composed  of  four 
8-inch  guns,  her  secondary  battery  of  ten  quick-fire  fives,  and  in 
addition  fourteen  G-pounders,  six  1-pounders,  all  rapid-fire,  and  four 
Gatlings.     Captain  C.  Y.  Gridley  (now  dead),  commander. 

The  Baltimore  is  a  steel  cruiser  of  the  second  rate,  with  a  dis- 
placement of  4,413  tons,  and  a  protection  of  steel  deck  plates  and 
shields  for  all  the  guns  and  conning  tower.  Her  armament  is 
heavy,  and  consists  of  four  8-inch,  and  six  (i-inch  guns,  with  two  G, 
two  3,  and  two  1-pounders,  all  rapid-fire,  and  six  machine  guns. 
Captain  N.  Mayo  Dyer,  commander. 

The  Boston  (Captain  Frank  Wilder)  is  another  cruiser  of  the 
second  rate,  of  3,000  tons,  a  partially  protected  deck,  two  8-inch  and 
six  slow-fire  G-inch  guns,  two  6-pounders,  two  S-poimd,  two  1- pound 
rapid-fire,  and  four  machine  guns. 

The  Ealeigh  is  a  thn-d  second-rate  steel  cruiser  of  3,213  tons. 
Her  armament  consists  of  one  rapid-fire  G-inch,  and  ten  rapid-fire 
5-inch  guns,  with  a  secondary  battery  of  eight  G-pounders,  four 
1-pounders  and  two  Gatlings.       Her  deck  and  conning  tower  are 


46  LIFE   OF   DEWEV. 

protected  with  armor;  she  has  a  celhilose  belt  and  steel  sponsons. 
Captain  J.  B.  Coghlan,  commander. 

The  Concord  is  much  smaller — only  a  steel  gunboat  with  a  dis- 
placement of  1,710  tons,  carr3'ing  six  (J-inch  gnns,  and  a  secondary 
battery  of  eleven  machine  guns,  and  having  her  deck  and  conning 
tower  protected.      Commander  Asa  Walker,  commander. 

Next  is  the  Petrel,  a  true  gunboat,  but  very  small,  only  Hl)->  tons, 
and  carrying  four  4-inch  and  four  small  machine  gnns.  Comman- 
der E.  P.  Wood,  commander. 

Then  there  is  the  McCuUoch,  a  revenue  cutter,  but,  as  has  been 
said,  well  enough  built  and  armed  to  pass  as  a  gunboat.  Captain 
Hodgson  commander.  The  collier  Nanshan,  and  the  storeship 
Zafiro  (Lieutenant  McLean),  non-combatants,  complete  the  number 
of  nine  vessels  with  which  Commodore  Dewey  sailed  to  his  triumph. 

The  grim,  lead-colored  vessels  fell  into  line,  the  Olympia  leading, 
with  the  McCulloch  near  by  to  serve  as  a  dispatch  boat,  and  the 
Boston  bringing  up  the  rear.  As  night  fell  they  were  moving 
southeast  over  a  long,  easy  swell  at  a  uniform  eight- knot  gait,  their 
positions  marked  in  the  gloom  only  by  their  lights,  and  everj'thiug 
quiet.  All  the  next  day  the  regular  pace  is  maintained,  and  upon 
each  ship  final  preparations  for  work  are  carried  forward.  Orders 
and  remarks  are  constantly  passing  among  the  fleet,  the  colored 
lights  winking  out  their  messages  at  night,  and  flags  waving  them 
by  daj'.  The  night  of  the  28th  was  very  dark  and  rough;  but  the 
fleet  kept  steadily  on,  the  flagship  incessantly  scanning  the  horizon 
with  its  great  electric  searchlight,  but  finding  nothing. 

The  next  da}',  April  21)th,  work  and  drill  continued.  All  the  ships 
were  short  of  officers  and  men;  and  even  the  few  civilians  aboard, 
clerks,  newspaper  correspondents,  etc.,  were  trained  to  service. 

On  every  vessel  the  iron  railings  were  replaced  by  ropes,  and 
everything  about  the  deck  that  could  be  removed  was  stowed  deep 
in  the  hold  or  thrown  overboard,  to  prevent  the  flight  of  fragments 
and  splinters,  which  are  as  much  dreaded  on  shipboard  as  the  shot 
itself.  The  rigging  was  "snaked"  with  zigzag  lines,  eo  that  if  a 
heavy  wire  rope  aloft  be  shot  in  two  it  will  not  fall  upon  the  sailors' 
heads.  Every  lifeboat  is  wrapped  in  canvas  to  prevent  its  pieces 
flying,  should  it  be  struck.  Everything  buoyant,  such  as  mattresses 
and  life  preservers,  is  laid  on  deck,  where  it  may  be  quickly  tossed 
to  a  man  overboard,  or  will  float  and  hel])  sustain  survivors  should 


VICTORY  47 

the  vessel  itself  go  down.  The  carpenters  are  busy  in  making  wooden 
plugs  for  shot-holes,  and  in  rigging  cot  hoists  by  which  to  lower 
the  wounded  below,  while  the  surgeons  prepare  the  hospital  room 
with  all  the  grim  appliances  for  treating  the  wounded.  Finally  all 
the  sails  are  brought  up  and  laid  in  thick  folds  about  exposed  places, 
to  shelter  the  men  as  much  as  possible  against  rifle  balls,  fragments 
of  shell  and  other  small  missiles.  Every  precaution  possible  is  made 
for  safety. 

Early  on  Saturday  morning,  April  30th,  the  Philippine  coast  is 
sighted  at  Cape  Bolinao,  about  one  hundred  miles  north  of  Manila 
Bay,  whereupon  the  Boston  and  Concord  are  sent  several  miles  in 
advance  as  scouts.  The  fleet  follows,  skirting  the  green  coast; 
every  man  is  watchful  and  quiet,  and  all  the  decks  are  cleared  for 
action.  Toward  noon  the  Baltimore  is  ordered  ahead  to  join  the 
scouts,  and  when  she  has  overtaken  them  the  three  vessels  cautiously 
enter  Subig  Bay,  about  thirty  miles  north  of  Manila,  where  it  is 
thought  the  Spanish  squadron  may  be  lying  in  wait.  The  fleet 
slowly  proceeds,  stopping  a  moment  to  overhaul  a  fighing  boat,  but 
getting  no  information  of  value.  Then  the  Boston  and  its  consorts 
come  out  from  Subig  Bay  and  report  that  nothing  is  there.  A  halt 
is  now  called,  and  the  commanders  of  all  the  vessels  are  summoned 
on  board  the  flagship. 

This  meeting  on  the  eve  of  the  momentous  entrance  into  Manila 
Bay  has  been  called  a  conference,  or  council  of  war,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  it  doubtless  was  so;  but  it  is  plain  that  the  mind  of  the  admi- 
ral was  already  made  up,  and  that  this  "council,"  like  those  which 
Grant  occasionally  held,  was  not  for  deciding  upon  a  plan  by  vote, 
but  simply  to  communicate  to  his  assistants  a  full  understanding  of 
the  leader's  intentions  and  instructions.  It  is  admitted,  however, 
that  either  here,  or  previously,  he  modified  his  intention  of  entering 
in  line  abreast  to  the  formation  followed — a  column  of  ships  one 
behind  the  other— upon  arguments  advanced  by  Flag-Lieutenant 
Brumby  and  other  officers.  When,  at  six  o'clock,  the  captains  re- 
turned to  their  several  vessels,  each  announced  to  his  officers  and 
crew  that  Manila  Bay  was  to  be  entered  that  night. 

This  was  a  serious  prospect;  but  it  was  faced  by  all  with  quiet 
confidence.  Although  all  the  American  ships  were  modern,  and 
armed,  as  a  rule,  with  the  best  modern  guns,  there  was  not  a  sin- 
gle armor-clad  among  them.     They  were  all  practically  unarmored, 


48  LIFE   OF   DEWEY. 

and  they  were  going  through  channels  which  were  said  to  be  filled 
with  torpedoes,  to  encounter,  so  far  as  they  knew,  a  more  numer- 
ous fleet,  composed  of  old  ships,  it  is  true,  hut  sirmed  with  modern 
guns,  and  backed,  as  it  was  understood,  by  forts  mounted  with 
the  finest  and  heaviest  modern  rifles.  Let  us  pause  a  moment  and 
consider  what  was  the  task  before  this  commander  and  his  men. 

The  Bay  of  Manila  is  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  roadsteads  and 
harbors  in  the  world,  rvmning  nearly  thirty  miles  into  the  eastern 
coast  of  the  Island  of  Luzon. 

"Twenty-six  miles  from  the  mouth  is  Manila.  Some  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  people  there,  the  vague  Spanish  statistics  tell  us. 
It  is  an  interesting  town,  low-lying,  Rnd  called  the  Venice  of  the 
East,  because  rivers  intersect  it.  There  are  a  new  and  an  old  town, 
the  latter  beautifully  walled  in  the  manner  of  three  hundred  years 
ago,  with  moats,  drawbridges,  and  portcullises,  altogether  very  pic- 
turesque, and  worthy  of  preservation. 

"Ten  miles  nearer  the  bay's  mouth,  and  on  the  same  side,  lies 
Cavite,  a  suburb  of  Manila,  with  some  five  thousand  people,  a  navy 
yard,  arsenal,  and  fortifications.  At  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  lie 
two  islands,  pretty  well  in  the  middle— one  large,  over  six  hundred 
feet  high,  called  Corregidor,  one  small,  but  over  four  hundred  feet 
in  height.  Between  the  islands  is  a  narrow  channel  with  eight 
fathoms  of  water  at  the  narrowest  part. 

"Between  Caballo  and  the  little  island  of  El  Fraile  three  miles 
width  of  channel  with  eighteen  fathoms  of  water,  and  known  as  the 
Boca  Grande.  On  the  other  side,  between  Corregidor  and  San  Jose 
Point,  a  channel  known  as  the  Boca  Chica,  two  miles  wide  and  of 
ample  depth.  Taken  altogether,  they  are  very  fit  and  stately 
entrances  to  the  great  bay  beyond. 

"There  are  forts  on  Corregidor  and  Caballo,  as  well  as  light- 
houses, and  batteries  also  on  El  Fraile,  which  lies  to  the  south- 
ward. More  forts  on  Limbones  and  San  Jose  points,  heavily  armed 
with  the  best  Krupp  guns,  according  to  the  information  brought  to 
Hongkong,  Nevertheless,  they  were  all  to  be  i)assed ;  and  as  the 
ships  headed  for  the  bay  they  saw  the  great  light,  the  guardian  of 
peaceful  commerce,  burning  bright  upon  Corregidor." 

The  Spanish  navy  occupying  this  marine  stronghold  is  shown  in 
the  following  table,  so  far  as  it  came  into  action.  Several  other 
gunboats  were  present  in  the  hay  or  rivers,  but  did  not  take  part. 


VICTORY. 

SPA^'ISH  Fleet. 


49 


Reina  Cristiaa 

Castilla 

Don  Antonio  de  Ullo.i 
lion  Juan  de  Austria 

Isia  de  Luzon 

Islade  Cu.a 

Veiusco 

JIarques  del  Dusro.. 

General  Lezo 

Arsos 


Steel  cruiser. 

Wooden  cruiser. 

Iron  cruiser. 

Iron  cruiser. 

Steel  protected  cruiser 

steel  protected  cruiser. 

Iron  cruiser. 

Gunboat. 

Gunboat. 

Gunboat. 


Armament 

t'^OU 

Six  t>.~-in..  luii  e  ;.  i: 

ri.9,  two -I.;.  iuL.:;,4. 

Four  4.;.  .J  i; 

Four4.r.  twuiJ.;. 

Six  4  7.  8  K. 

Six  4  7,  8  R. 

Three  6-in.,  two  2. 

One  6  2.  t    n  4  7. 

One  n.o.  1  R. 

R 

i' 
1 

!•'. 
F. 

'r 

1'. 

'P 

r 

Vivo. 

.'J.  i:n.  V. 

F. 
F. 

1887 
1M81 


T\vi<  torpedo  boats  and  two  transports,  practically  n^t  in  action. 

With  this  may  be  compared  the  follovviug  tabulation  of  the  Ameri- 
n  fleet: 

American  Fleet. 


(Jlynii)ia 

i-laitinioi'e 

Bosion 

K.ilei-li 

Coiiccird 

IVrrel 

.Mc(Julloeli,not  in  action 


Protected  cruiser. 

Protected  cruiser. 

Piir.  protected  cruiser 

Protected  cruiser. 

Gunboat. 

Gunboat. 

Revenue-cutter. 


Four  8-in.,  ten  5  in.,  24  Rap.  Fire. 

FourSin.,  six  6- n.,  10  R.  F. 

Two  8-in.,  six  6  in.,  10  R   F. 

One  t)-in.,  ten  5  in.,  14  R.  F. 

Six  6-in.,  9R  F. 

Fo   r6-iu.,  7R.  F. 

Four  4  in. 


N'o.of 

■Riiilt 

ilei). 

4fir, 

1S93 

:m 

1888 

272 

1884 

2H.-1 

1892 

1.=il 

18:11 

10( 

130 

1888 

It  will  be  seeii  by  these  tables  that  Commodore  Dewey  proposed 
to  oppose  six  fighting  ships,  excluding  the  McCulloch,  agaiast  ten, 
plus  two  torpedo  boats.  Neitiier  fleet  was  armored,  in  the  modern 
naval  sense  of  the  word,  and  their  plated  walls  gave  no  moie  pro- 
tection on  one  side  than  on  the  other.  The  Spanish  ships,  compared 
with  the  American,  were  older  and  of  inferior  types;  but  as  they 
were  to  fight  from  an  anchorage,  where  (it  was  to  be  supposed) 
ranges  had  been  previously  ascertained,  the  American  superiority 
in  speed  and  engine  power  did  not  siguif}'  much. 

"The  Spaniards  had  fifty-two  classified  big  guns, "says  an  author- 
ity, "and  seventy-two  rapid-fire  and  machine  guns;  the  Americans 
fifty-seven  classified  big  guns,  and  seventy-four  rapid-fire  and 
machine  guns.  The  Americans  had  ten  8-incb  guns,  while  the 
largest  Spanish  guns  were  6.2  inches.  Commodore  Dewey  therefore 
had  the  advantage  in  weight  of  metal  and  in  heavy  guns,  and  his 
flagship,  the  Olympia,  far  outclassed  anything  opposed  to  him.  On 
the  other  haod,  Dewey  had  to  pass  through  a  wide  channel,  with 


50  LIFE   OF   DEWEY. 

powerful  forts  armed  with  modern  guns  on  either  side,  in  order  to 
enter  the  bay.  He  then  had  to  steam  sixteen  miles  before  he  came 
opposite  Cavite,  while,  from  the  best  information  received,  he  ex- 
pected mines  to  be  all  about  him." 

We  have  not  run  ahead  of  our  story  in  explaining  this  state  of 
things,  because  it  was  the  full  know^ledge  of  these  facts,  and  the 
theoretical  superiority  of  the  enemy  they  implied,  which  made 
every  man  look  grave. 

As  darkness  fell  on  the  evening  of  April  3()th  every  ship  made 
ready  for  work.  Battle  ports  were  put  up,  chart  rooms  sealed,  and 
every  crevice  where  light  might  show  was  carefully  closed.  No 
lights  were  hoisted  aloft  or  allowed  on  deck,  except  one  at  the  stern, 
visible  only  from  the  rear,  and  intended  as  a  guide  to  the  ships 
behind  as  each  pursued  the  other  in  the  established  line.  It  was  a 
still,  dark  night  with  the  half-moon  hidden  by  gray  clouds=  At  a 
low  rate  of  speed  and  in  perfect  silence  the  procession  glided  into 
the  bay,  and  the  crew,  with  cutlasses  belted  on,  lay  down  on 
mattresses  thrown  about  the  deck  by  the  guns,  to  get  three  or  four 
hours'  sleep  if  they  could. 

As  midnight  approached  the  men  were  awakened,  called  to  quar- 
ters, and  sat  watchful  at  their  stations. 

"The  Olympia,"  writes  Mr.  J.  T.  McCutcheon  of  the  Chicago 
Record,  who  was  aboard  the  McCulloch,  "turns  in  and  steers  directly 
for  the  center  of  tlie  southern  and  wider  channel.  The  Baltimore 
follows,  and  in  regular  order  the  rest  of  the  fleet  slide  on  through 
the  night  to  the  entrance.  Still  there  is  no  tiring  from  the  forts, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  the  daring  maneuver  may  not  be  discovered. 
The  excitement  at  this  time  is  intense.  The  somber  Corregidor 
and  the  mass  of  hills  at  the  south  are  watched  with  straining  eyes. 

"About  this  time  the  soot  in  the  funnel  of  the  McCulloch  caught 
fire,  and  this  circumstance  may  have  revealed  the  movements  of  the 
fleet  to  the  enemy.  ...  A  faint  light  flashed  up  on  the  land  and 
then  died  out.  A  rocket  leaped  from  Corregidor  and  then  all  was 
darkness  and  stillness  again.     .     .     . 

"Suddenly,  just  at  l'l:\b  o'clock  (Sunday  morning.  May  1st)  a 
white  puff  of  smoke  curls  out,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  lives  of 
nearly  all  on  the  McCulloch  the  sound  of  a  screaming  cannon  ball 
is  heard.  It  passed  well  clear  of  the  McCullocli,  toward  which  it 
was  fired.     .     .     .     Then  there  came  the  sound  like  the  crashing  of 


VICTORY.  51 

thunder,  and  from  the  Boston  went  an  8-inch  shell  from  her  after 
gun.     This  was  the  first  shot  fired  by  the  Americans." 

It  was  followed  by  an  exchange  of  a  few  more  shots;  but  the  big 
guns  on  Corregidor  Island  did  not  open,  and  a  few  moments  later 
all  the  ships  were  creeping  slowly  on  in  safety  toward  Cavite,  about 
seventeen  miles  distant,  and  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  bay  near 
Manila.  Every  one  Avho  could  do  so  lay  down  and  tried  to  sleep, 
gathering  strength  for  what  the  morning  might  bring  forth. 

The  sudden  dawn  of  the  tropics  flooded  Manila  Bay  with  light, 
and  there  in  tlie  bight  beside  and  behind  the  peninsula  and  arsenal 
and  forts  of  Cavite  lay  the  Spanish  squadron.  Straight  ahead  rpoved 
the  procession,  every  masthead  and  peak  flinging  the  stars  and 
stripes  to  the  sunrise  breeze,  until  its  head  had  reached  a  range  of 
about  four  miles  from  the  shore  batteries.  Then  the  great  guns 
opened,  and  in  a  moment  tremendous  projectiles  and  enormous  shells 
were  hurtling  about  the  American  ships,  w-hich  kept  advancing  in 
their  regular  order,  though  the  McCulloch  had  been  left  behind  to 
guard  the  transports,  yet  near  enough  not  only  to  witness  everything 
well,  but  to  be  exposed  herself  to  the  longest  shots. 

Suddenly,  just  ahead  of  the  flagship,  there  came  a  quivering 
shock,  and  a  great  column  of  water  leaped  into  the  air ;  another 
quiver  and  another  burst  of  mud  and  water  followed,  again  too  far 
away  for  harm.  The  dreaded  mines  were  really  there,  then,  and 
the  fleet  was  upon  them ;  but  Dewej^  had  been  trained  under  the 
man  who  said:  "Damn  the  torpedoes,"  and  neither  the  Olympia 
nor  any  other  ship  hesitated  or  moved  its  helm.  This  was  all  that 
was  seen  or  heard  of  the  much-talked-of  torpedoes — if  there  were  others 
they  failed  to  explode;  as  for  those  in  the  channel  at  Corregidor,  it 
appeared  that  they  really  had  been  said  to  be  sown  there,  but  were 
allowed  to  sink  to  the  bottom  in  eighty  feet  of  water.  Not  much 
to  be  afraid  of  there ! 

For  some  time  no  reply  was  made  by  the  Americans.  Then  Com- 
modore Dewey  remarked  to  his  captain : 

"If  you  are  ready,  Gridley,  you  may  fire." 

The  captain  was  ready.  The  port  8-inch  gun  of  the  forward  tur- 
ret rang  out,  and  the  great  shell  sped  over  the  water  to  the  Spanish 
flagship,  and  with  it  was  hurled  a  mighty  shout  of  defiance  and 
vengeance  from  fifteen  hundred  sailor  throats: 

'"'■Remember  the  Maine!'''' 


52 


LIFE   OF   DKWEV 


Tbeii  up  went  the  signal  "Fire  as  convenient;"  and  the  ships 
behind  the  Olympia  opened  at  once. 

The  Spauiards  were  not  behindhand.  From  ships  and  forts  there 
was  a  continuous  roar,  and  the  shells  began  to  "strike  all  about  the 
American  squadron.  One  burst  so  near  the  Oh'mpia  that  its  frag- 
ments cut  the  rigging,  plowed  a  furrow  in  the  deck,  and  tore  the 
forward  bridge  where  the  commodore  stood,  with  Commander  Lam- 
berton,  bis  chief  of  staff,  Executive  Lieutenant  Rees,  Navigator 
Calkins  (who  steered  the  ship  with  the  utmost  nicety  and  coolness) 
and  two  aids,  one  of  which  was  Albert  Stickney,  an  ex-naval  officer, 
now  acting  for  the  New  York  Ilerahl. 

"At  5:40,"  notes  McCutcheon,  from  his  post  of  observation,  "the 
firing  becomes  incessant.  A  battery  at  the  Mole,  in  Manila,  and 
nearly  five  miles  to  the  east,  has  now  begun  firing,  and  the  Boston 
is  occupied  with  shelling  a  fort  on  the  mainland  beyond  the  arsenal 
at  Cavite.  The  Reina  Cristina,  w'bicb  is  the  Spanish  flagship, 
shows  up  black  and  fierce  in  the  front  of  the  enemy's  fleet.     The 

Castilla  is  nearly 
abreast  of  her,  and  is 
protected  by  large  bar- 
ges, which  make  it  im- 
possible for  shells  to 
penetrate  below  the 
v\ater-liue.  T  h  e  Don 
Antonio  de  Ulloa  is  a 
little  behind  the  other 
vessels.  From  Bakor 
Bay,  the  naval  anchor- 
age, comes  the  fire  from 
the  Don  Juan  de  Aus- 
tria, a  cruiser;  the  Isla 
de  Luzon,  and  Isla  de 
("uba,  iirotected  cruis- 
ers, and  the  ^larques  del 
Duero.  General  Lezo, 
El  Correo,  and  Yelasco. 
The  latter  vessels  steam 
"    '—  back  and  forth  from  the 

ON  THE  BRiDOE  OF  THE  oLVMPiA.  protection  of  the  walls. 

Battle  oC  Jlunila  Bay.  ^ 


VICTORY.  53 

"The  American  lleet  now  forms  in  line,  and,  steaming  in  a  wide 
circle,  pours  shells  from  the  port  and  bow  guns  as  the  vessels  pass. 
Then  the  ships  swing  around,  and,  continuing  in  the  long  ellipse, 
turn  loose  the  guns  of  the  stern  and  starboard  sides.  In  this  way  all 
the  guns  on  both  sides  of  the  warships  are  kept  in  action  part  of  the 
time,  and  the  vessels  are  constantly  moving.  The  fleet  makes  three 
complete  circles,  each  time  going  into  shorter  range  until  a  range  of 
about  two  thousand,  five  hundred  j'ards  is  reached. 

"iSTow  the  Olympia  has  ceased  firing,  and  .  .  .  withdraws,  fol- 
lowed b}"  the  rest  of  the  squadron.  The  Spanish  keep  on  firing  with 
almost  as  much  vigor  as  ever.  It  is  now  7  :45  o'clock,  and  the  fight 
has  lasted  two  and  one-half  hours.  During  all  this  time  there  has 
been  incessant  firing,  and  the  whole  sky  is  hazy  with  smoke.  The 
tremendous  resistance  and  striking  courage  of  the  Spanish  is  a 
revelation.  A  feeling  of  profound  gloom  comes  over  us  as  the 
American  ships  withdraw  for  consultation." 

The  admiral's  explanation  of  this  curious  maneuver,  which 
aroused  the  astonishment  and  curiosity  of  the  whole  world,  was 
simply  that  the  fleet  stopped  fighting  a  little  while  to  give  the  men 
and  guns  a  rest  and  cooling-off  spell,  and  to  get  breakfast;  having 
attended  to  this  pleasing  duty  and  smoked  a  morning  pipe  all  round, 
the  ships  would  take  hold  again  and  finish  their  job. 

Undoubtedly  the  men  needed  and  profited  by  rest  and  food,  and 
upon  the  condition  of  the  men  depended  all  the  hoped-for  results. 
The  commodore  himself  needed  it.  He  was  not  robust,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  battle  was  suffering  from  a  painful  and  debilitating 
attack  of  indigestion;  yet,  in  his  white  duck  suit  and  soft  cap — ^no 
sword  or  pistols  or  fuss  of  any  sort — he  had  stood  on  the  bridge 
through  all  the  fight,  his  eyes  on  everything  and  careless  of  the 
blaze  of  Spanish  projectiles  hurled  toward  him  most  of  all. 

But  it  is  doubtful  whether  illness  or  weariness  or  hunger  w^ould 
ever  have  caused  that  strange  pause,  had  there  not  been  a  more 
cogent  reason — lack  of  ammunition.  This  has  been  revealed  by  JVIr. 
Stickney  (heretofore  mentioned),  in  an  article  in  Harper'' s  Magazine 
for  February,  1809,  in  the  following  language: 

"When  we  hauled  off  from  the  fighting  line  at  7:30  o'clock,  the 
situation  had  become  apparently  serious  for  Commodore  Dewey. 
We  had  been  fighting  a  determined  and  courageous  enemy  for  more 
than  two  hours  without  having  noticeably  diminished  the  volume 
of  his  fire.  It  is  true,  at  least  three  of  his  ships  had  broken  into 
flames;  but  so  had  one  of  ours — the  Boston.  These  fires  had  all  been 
put  out  without  apparent  injury  to  the  ships.  Generally  speaking, 
nothing  of  great  importance  had  oc?urred  to  show  that  we  had  seri- 
ously injured  any  Spanish  vessel. 

"On  the  other  hand,  our  condition  was  greatlj^  altered  for  the 
worse.  There  remained  in  the  magazines  of  the  Olympia  only 
eighty-five  rounds  of  5-inch  ammunition,  and  though  the  stock  of 


54  LIFE   OF   DEWEY. 

8-iiich  charges  was  not  proportionately  depleted,  it  was  reduced 
enough  to  make  the  continuance  of  the  battle  for  another  two  hours 
impossible.  When  it  is  remembered  that  Commodore  Dewey  was 
more  than  seven  thousand  miles  from  a  home  port,  and  that  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions  a  supply  of  ammunition  could  not  be 
obtained  in  less  than  a  month,  the  outlook  was  far  from  being  satis- 
factory. ...  If  we  should  run  short  of  powder  and  shell,  we 
might  become  the  hunted  instead  of  the  hunters. 

"I  do  not  exaggerate  in  the  least  when  I  say  that,  as  we  hauled 
oft"  in  the  bay,  the  gloom  on  the  bridge  of  the  Olympia  was  thicker 
than  a  London  fog  in  November.  Neither  Commodore  Dewey  nor 
any  of  the  staff  believed  that  the  Spanish  ships  had  been  sufficiently 
injured  by  our  fire  to  prevent  them  from  renewing  the  battle  quite 
as  furiously  as  they  had  previously  fought.  Indeed,  we  had  all  been 
distinctly  disappointed  in  the  results  of  our  fire.  Our  projectiles 
seemed  to  go  too  high  or  too  low — just  as  had  been  the  case  with 
those  fired  at  us  by  the  Spaniards.  Several  times  the  commodore 
had  expressed  dissatisfaction  with  the  failure  of  our  gunners  to  hit 
the  enemy.  We  had  begun  the  firing  at  too  great  a  distance,  but  we 
had  gradually  worked  in  farther  on  each  of  the  turns,  until  we  were 
within  two  thousand  five  hundred  yards  at  the  close  of  the  fifth 
round.  At  tliat  distance,  in  a  smooth  sea,  we  ought  to  have  made 
a  large  percentage  of  hits;  yet,  so  far  as  we  could  judge,  we  had 
not  sensibly  crippled  the  foe.  Consequently  Commodore  Dewey 
hauled  out  into  the  open  bay  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  round  to  take 
stock  of  ammunition  and  devise  a  new  plan  of  attack. 

"As  I  went  aft  the  men  asked  me  what  we  were  hauling  off  for. 
They  were  in  a  distinctl}' different  humor  from  that  which  prevailed 
on  the  bridge.  They  believed  that  they  had  done  well,  and  that  the 
other  ships  had  done  likewise.  The  Olympia  cheered  the  Balti- 
more, and  the  Baltimore  returned  the  cheers  with  interest.  The 
gun-captains  were  not  at  all  dissatisfied  with  the  results  of  their 
work.  Whether  they  had  a  better  knowledge  of  the  accuracy  of 
their  aim  than  we  had  on  the  bridge,  or  whether  they  took  it  for 
granted  that  the  enemy  must  have  suffered  severely  after  so  much 
fighting,  I  do  not  know ;  but,  at  any  rate,  they  were  eager  to  go  on 
with  the  battle,  and  were  confident  of  victory.  I  told  one  of  them 
that  we  were  merely  hauling  'off  for  breakfast,  which  statement 
elicited  the  appeal  to  Captain  Lamberton  as  he  came  past  a  moment 
later : 

"  'For  God's  sake.  Captain,  don't  let  us  stop  now.  To  hell  with 
breakfast!' 

"When  I  told  the  commodore  that  I  intended  to  attribute  our  with- 
drawal to  the  need  for  breakfast, he  intimated  that  it  was  not  a  mat- 
ter of  much  importance  what  reason  I  gave,  so  long  as  I  did  not  give 
the  true  one.  And  so  the  breakfast  episode  went  to  the  world  as  a 
plausible  excuse  for  what  seemed   like  an  extraordinary  strategic 


VICTORY.  55 

maneuver — one  which  has  been  the  subject  of  more  comment  than 
almost  any  other  event  during  the  battle." 

For  four  hours  the  men  and  ships  rested.  The  captains  were 
called,  and  as  each  reported  "no  casualties"  (.except  eight  men 
wounded  on  the  Baltimore  by  an  explosion  of  small  ammunition, 
caused  by  an  enemy's  shot)  gratitude  was  mingled  with  amazement. 
How  was  it  possible  in  that  storm  of  fire  so  few  hits  had  been  made 
by  the  Spaniards,  and  so  little  damage  done! 

Then  the  incidents  of  the  battle  were  discussed — how  the  Reina 
Cristina  had  boldly  steamed  out  straight  at  the  Olympia,  with 
Admiral  Montojo  and  his  staff  officers  standing  exposed  on  her 
bridge,  and  had  faced  the  Yankee  fire  until  she  could  stand  it  no 
more,  then  had  turned  back  an  almost  helpless  wreck.  One  8-inch 
shell  had  entered  her  stern,  smashed  through  her  center,  killing  and 
wounding  numbers  of  men,  ruining  structure  and  guns,  and  setting 
the  whole  ship  in  flames.  The  great  black  cruiser  was  now  a  help- 
less wreck,  abandoned  by  her  crew;  and  the  admiral's  flag  floated 
from  the  Castilla,  which  was  itself  on  fire. 

Another  thrilling  incident  had  been  the  dash  of  two  torpedo 
boats.  With  incredible  pluck  their  commanders  had  sent  their  little 
craft  straight  toward  the  American  flagship.  Dewey's  attention 
was  called  to  them  bj"  Mr.  Stickney,  when  they  first  appeared ;  but 
he  was  then  intently  watching  the  effect  of  our  shells  upon  the  Span- 
ish ships. 

"Well,  you  look  after  her,"  he  replied;  "I  can't  be  bothered  with 
torpedo  boats.  Let  me  know  when  you've  sunk  her."  And  so  say- 
ing, he  turned  his  back  upon  the  lilliputian  craft  ahead  and  leveled 
his  glasses  on  the  Reina  Cristina  again. 

One  of  the  torpedo  boats  was  smothered  under  a  rain  of  shots,  and 
pitched  head  first  to  the  bottom  with  all  on  board.  The  other,  dis- 
abled and  bloody,  escaped  to  the  beach  a  total  wreck.  So  ended  the 
far-heralded  "terrors,"  upon  which  the  Spaniards  had  been  taught 
to  rely  so  implicitly. 

Meanwhile  details  have  been  busy  replenishing  the  ship's  maga- 
zines from  the  reserve  of  ammunition  on  the  Zafiro. 

Toward  eleven  o'clock  signals  are  hoisted  and  again  the  fleet  gets 
under  way.  The  time  has  come  to  "finish  the  job."  This  time 
the  Baltimore  leads,  rushing  silently  down  toward  Cavite,  waiting, 
though  met  by  a  hurricane  of  missiles  from  Spanish  ships  and  shore 
batteries,  until  she  is  close  to  her  targets,  then  opening  with  a  broad- 
side that  puts  an  end  to  Montojo's  flagship,  whose  magazine  bursts 
in  response,  and  she  goes  down.  Then  the  Olympia  and  Raleigh 
come  up,  followed  quickly  by  the  others;  and  as  each  picks  out  its 
prey — the  little  Petrel  especially  distinguishing  itself  by  running 
close  into  shallow  water  and  smashing  the  smaller  gunboats  in  the 
bay  behind  the  arsenal  point — destruction  swift  and  sure  falls  upon 
the  once  proud  squadron  of  Her  Majesty.     In  half  an  hour  evei'tj 


50  IJFE   OF   DEWEY. 

one  is  in  fiames  or  sunk,  beached  or  abandoned;  and  the  Span- 
ish admiral  and  all  his  sailors  who  can  get  away  are  flj'ing  inland. 

Half  an  hour  more  and  the  shore  batteries  are  silenced,  the  great 
magazine  of  the  arsenal  has  exploded  like  a  volcano,  and  the  vic- 
tory is  complete. 

Dewey  has  obeyed  orders.  The  Spanish  fleet  could  not  be  "cap- 
tured;" but  it  has  been  utterly  "destroyed."  The  city  of  Manila, 
the  island  of  Luzon,  the  whole  of  Spain's  possessions  in  the  East 
are  in  his  power! 

It  seems  earl}^  and  is  earl}-,  for  a  masterly  discussion  of  this,  one 
of  the  greatest  naval  battles  in  the  history  of  sea  fighting;  but  the 
following  comparison  of  it,  by  Senator  J.  Cabot  Lodge,  with  the 
famous  victories  gained  by  Nelson,  and  especially  his  Battle  of  the 
Nile,  when  he  crushed  the  naval  power  of  Napoleon,  is  very 
instructive;  it  is  quoted  by  permission  from  Harper's  Magazine: 

"Nelson  at  Aboukir  was  slightly  inferior  to  his  antagonist  in 
weight  of  metal  and  number  of  guns,  and  had  no  siiip  as  powerful 
as  L'Orient.  On  the  other  hand,  he  equaled  his  foe  in  number  of 
ships,  while  the  Spaniards  outnumbered  Dewey  two  to  one,  and  had 
l,l'.Mj  men  against  the  American  l,tl7.S  engaged  in  action.  Afar 
more  inijiortant  difference  was  that  while  Nelson  had  only  the 
French  fleet  to  deal  with,  the  Spaniards  at  Manila  were  supported 
by  ])Owerful,  strongly  manned  shore  batteries,  mounted  with  modern 
rifled  guns,  some  of  very  large  caliber.  This  last  fact,  too  much 
overlooked,  made  the  odds  against  Dewey  very  heavj-,  even  after 
the  two  mines  had  exjjloded  w-ithout  result. 

"Both  Dewey  and  Nelson  hunted  down  the  enemy,  and  fought  him 
at  anchor  where  they  found  him.  Nelson  entered  an  open  roadstead 
by  dayligiit,  began  his  action  at  sunset,  and  fought  on  in  the  dark- 
ness. Dewey  ran  past  powerful  entrance  forts  and  up  a  deep  bay  in 
the  darkness,  and  fought  his  battle  in  daj'light.  Neither  took  the 
enemy  by  surprise;  for  Admiral  Montojo's  report  shows  that  he 
had  tried  Subig  Bay  and  given  it  up,  and  had  then  made  every 
preparation  possible  to  meet  the  Americans  at  Cavite  under  the 
shelter  uf  the  batteries.  Nelson  practically  destro3'ed  the  French 
fleet;  but  Admiral  Villeneuve  escaped,  the  next  morning,  with  two 
ships  of  the  line  and  two  frigates;  and  there  was  only  one  Eng- 
lish ship,  the  Zealous,  not  enough  for  the  purpose,  in  condition  to 
follow  them.  Dewej'  absolutely  destroj'ed  every  Sj)anish  ship, 
including  the  transport  Mindanao,  and  captured  the  other  transport, 
the  Manila.  He  silenced  all  the  land  batteries  and  took  Cavite. 
Aboukir  had  its  messengers  of  death  in  the  escaping  French  ships; 
Manila  had  none.  Absolute  completeness  like  this  cannot  be  sur- 
passed. The  Spaniards  admitted  a  loss  of  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  killed  and  wounded  in  ships  and  forts,  while  the  Americans 
had  none  killed  and  only  eight  wounded — all  on  the  Baltimore. 
The  American  ships  were  hit  several  times;  but  not  one  was  seri- 


AI'TER  THE   VICTORY.  57 

ously  injured,  much  less  disabled.  This  has  been  attributed  to  the 
extremely  bad  marksmanship  of  the  Spaniards,  and  has  been  used  to 
explain  Dewey's  victor}".  It  is  easy  to  exaggerate  the  badness  of 
the  Spanish  gunnery.  They  seem,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  to  have  shot 
well  enough  until  the  Americans  opened  upon  them.  The  shells 
which  struck  the  Baltimore  effectively  were  both  fired  before  that 
ship  replied  in  the  second  round.  But  when  the  American  fire  began, 
it  was  delivered  Avith  such  volume,  precision  and  concentration  that 
the  Spanisb  fire  was  actually  smothered,  and  became  wholly  wild 
and  ineiiective.  The  great  secret  of  the  victory  was  the  deadly 
accuracy  and  rapidity  of  the  American  gunners." 


VIIL 

After  the  Victory. 

Commodore  Dewey  asked  for  the  use  of  the  cable  to  communi- 
cate his  report  to  his  government;  but  the  Spanish  authorities 
refused  it,  and  also  refused  its  use  to  the  correspondents.  The  com- 
modore, therefore,  penned  a  mere  announcement  and  dispatched  the 
McCiilloch  to  Hongkong  to  send  it  by  telegraph  from  there.  With 
her  went  the  few  lucky  newspaper  correspondents,  and  next  morning 
the  newspapers  of  tlie  world  were  displaying  the  greatest  "news" 
of  the  century  in  their  biggest  type. 

Two  days  later  the  batteries  on  Corregidor  Island  had  surren- 
dered, Cavite  had  been  abandoned  and  occupied  by  marines,  word 
had  been  sent  to  the  authorities  of  the  city  of  Manila  that  so  long 
as  they  refrained  from  any  firing  the  city  would  not  be  bombarded 
without  due  notice;  and  a  daj^  or  two  later  Dewey  had  picked  up 
the  telegraph  cable  at  Cape  Bolinoa,  cut  it,  and  destroyed  all  com- 
munication by  telegraph  between  the  garrisons  in  Manila  and  else- 
where on  the  islands,  and  the  government  in  Madrid. 

Meanwhile  the  insurgent  natives,  provided  by  grace  of  Commo- 
dore Dewe}''  with  a  leader  in  Emilio  Aguinaldo,  were  investing  the 
city  closely  upon  land,  while  the  American  vessels  established  an 
impregnable  blockade  liy  sea.  This  accomplished  (and  a  very  few 
days  suflficed)  Commodore  Dewey  began  at  once  the  attempt  to  induce 
the  Spaniards  to  surrender  without  an}'  further  fighting  or  blood- 
shed, pointing  out  to  them  that  heavy  reinforcements  were  coming 
to  him  in  the  shape  of  additional  and  more  powerful  ships,  and  also 
in  the  way  of  land  forces  that  soon  would  outnumber  as  well  as 
outclass  their  own. 


58 


tJFE   OF   DEWEY. 


These  negotiations  were  carried  on  through  the  medium  of  both  the 
British,  and  the  Belgian  local  consuls;  but  they  were  compli- 
cated by  several  outside  circumstances.     The  Spaniards  felt  them- 


BX'ST  OF  DE^^'EY,  BY  OHEGLI. 
rrcsentt'd  to  the  Pulilic  Library  of  Montpelier  by  Mr.  Cliail 


Dewt-y, 


selves  able  to  hold  out  for  a  considerable  time,  at  least;  aud  their 
sense  of  honor  forbade  them  to  give  up  witbout  a  struggle.  They 
expected  Spain  would  send  relief;  and  Commodore  Dewey  himself 
was  fearful  that  the  powerful  squadron  of  Admiral  Camara  might 
reach  there  before  the  monitors  sidling  to  him  from  San  Francisco 
could  make  the  voyage. 

More  important  than  this  was  the  poorly  disguised  unfriendliness  of 
the  Germans,  who  had  a  very  strong  fleet  in  the  harlior,  for  no 
visible  purpose  other  than  to  make  mischief;  and  it  presently  became 
necessary  to  mix  a  very  plain  and  serious  threat  with  the  commo- 


AFTER   THE   VICTORY.  59 

tlore's  remonstrance  to  the  German  admiral,  before  that  oflBcial 
would  cease  to  meddle  and  would  consent  to  observe  the  courtesies 
of  a  blockaded  port 

It  was  needful,  also,  to  be  exceedingly  discreet  in  all  these  nego- 
tiations, in  order  not  to  commit  the  United  States  to  some  line  of 
international  policy  of  which  the  Washington  government  could 
not  approve,  and  to  keep  out  of  entanglements  with  the  arrogant 
insurrectionists,  now  revived  under  Aguinaldo,  who  conceived  that 
the  time  was  come  when  they  were  to  have  full  sway. 

Finally,  it  was  necessary  to  supply  the  ships  with  coal  and  provi- 
sions. This  could  only  be  done  in  ports  like  Hongkong  or  those  of 
Japan,  belonging  to  nations  that  had  declared  neutrality ;  and  here 
an  almost  insurmountable  obstacle  to  Dewey's  maintaining  his  control 
would  have  been  met,  had  not  the  governor  of  Hongkong  winked 
at  certain  dealings  of  the  American  transport  oflBcers,  who  acted  in 
violation  of  strict  injunctions,  yet  somehow  were  never  ques- 
tioned when  the  Nanshan  seemed  to  have  inexhaustible  supplies  of 
coal  in  her  hold,  or  the  Zafiro  furnished  provisions  and  delicacies 
from  storerooms  thought  long  ago  to  have  been  emptied. 

Gradually  the  clever  diplomacy  of  this  level-headed,  quiet  man, 
the  steady  pressure  he  exercised,  and  the  force  of  circumstances  won 
most  of  what  he  wanted.  He  had  secretly  arranged  with  the  Span- 
ish civil  and  military  authorities  for  the  surrender  of  the  city,  after 
the  merest  theatrical  farce  of  a  show  of  resistance:  and  the  surrender 
of  the  city  took  place  after  Merritt's  army  came,  much  as  had  been 
planned,  though  the  excitability  of  the  troops  on  both  sides,  who 
were  not  aware  that  the  appearance  of  defense  was  not  in  earnest, 
produced  more  battling  than  the  leaders  on  either  side  intended. 

This  done,  Dewey  devoted  himself  to  the  subjugation  of  the  other 
ports  of  the  Philippines,  such  as  Iloilo,  and  to  the  capture  of  some 
gunboats  still  at  large.  Leisure  enabled  him  to  repair  many  of 
the  Spanish  vessels  lost  in  the  battle,  and  to  restore  to  usefulness 
much  of  the  machinery  in  the  navy  yard  and  arsenal  at  Cavite.  So 
he  was  busy,  and  resisted  invitations  to  come  back  to  the  United 
States  until  May,  1800,  when  he  hoisted  his  homeward-bound  pen- 
nant on  the  old  Olympia,  and  started  for  New  York. 


60  LIF^   OP'   DEWEY. 


IX. 

Honors  and  Rewards, 

From  the  momeut  the  battle  of  Manila  beoame  known,  George 
Dewey  became  the  popular  hero  of  the  United  States,  and  his  nanie 
anti  fame  svere  acclaimed  in  every  cit}'  and  hamlet  of  the  laud. 

The  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  sent  to  him  and  his 
men  enthusiastic  telegrams  of  ]»raise  and  thankfulness.  To  these 
were  added  hundreds  of  telegrams,  letters,  sets  of  resolutions  and 
presents  from  friends  and  admirers  everywhere.  A  great  meeting 
was  held  in  his  old  home  in  Montpelier,  and  the  congratulations  of 
his  relatives  and  townsmen  were  sent  him;  but  they  were  no  more 
sincere  and  hearty  than  those  of  strangers. 

Almost  at  once  Congress  took  np  the  matter,  and  in  a  fervent 
session  showered  public  honors  upon  this  newest  ornament  of  the 
American  navy.  A  vote  revived  the  obsolete  grade  of  admiral, 
held  last  h\  Farragut  and  Porter— his  old  commanders  in  the  civil 
war;  and  George  Dewey  was  promoted  at  a  leap  to  the  supreme 
rank  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States.  Thus  was  exemplified 
anew  the  motto  of  the  Dewpy  lamily,  worn  npon  their  ancient  coat 
of  arms:  Corona  veniet  delecti — '"A  crown  will  come  to  him  who 
deserves  it." 

In  addition  to  this  exalted  iiromotion  and  its  increased  emolu- 
ments Congress  voted  to  him,  as  a  keepsake  for  the  occasion,  a 
jeweled  sword  costing  ten  tlionsand  dollars,  which  was  made  by 
Tiffany,  in  New  York,  and  is  })robably  the  handsomest  weapon 
ever  worn  by  an  American  soldier. 

The  gratitude  and  admiration  of  his  fellow  ct  i-ens  began  imme- 
diately to  be  expressed  in  other  waj's,  more  substantially,  too,  than 
by  the  complimentary  naming  after  him  of  budding  towns,  parks, 
babies,  pet  animals,  cigars,  paper  collars,  and  a  thousand  catch- 
penny contrivances.  Subscrijitions  were  started  in  various  places  to 
make  the  admiral  a  present  of  houses— especially  in  Washington; 
l)ut  tbe.so  have  n<it  been  carried  out.  Money  has  been  liberally  sub- 
scribed for  a  statue  to  be  erected  in  the  city  of  Montpelier,  as  a  per- 
manent memorial  at  the  capital  of  a  great  son  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tain State.  The  fund  has  thus  far  been  created  wholly  from  Ver- 
monters  outside  of  the  State,  no  one  at  home  being  asked  or  per- 
mitted to  join  in  it.  Neither  the  design  nor  tlie  sculptor  has  yet 
been  selected  ;  but  the  intention  is  to  make  a  portrait  statue  of  heroic 
size,  and  to  place  it  in  the  portico  of  the  capitol,  opposite  that  of 
Ethan  Allen. 

Another  testimonial  has  lieen  the  most  pleasing  of  all  propositions 
to  tlio  adTuirai.  and    it   secured  iiis  immediate  approval,  npon  Avhich 


HONORS   AND    REWARDS.  61 

its  success  was  at  once  secured.  His  brother  Edward  remarked,  in 
relation  to  this  matter:  "He  does  not  want  a  sword,  because  he  has 
three;  he  does  not  want  a  house  in  Montpelier,  because  he  would 
not  live  in  it;  he  does  not  want  a  statue,  because  he  isn't  dead." 
What  he  did  approve  of,  writing  that  "nothing  the  State  could  now 
do  for  me  would  give  me  greater  pleasure,"  was  tbe  subscription  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  erect  at  the  Norwich  University — • 
the  military  school  at  Northfield,  Vermont,  where  he  was  trained 
for  Annapolis — a  building  really  needed,  and  to  be  known  as  Dewey 
Hall.  This  money  has  been  raised  without  serious  effort,  and  the 
corner-stone  is  to  be  laid  whenever  the  admiral  can  make  it  conven- 
ient to  be  present  at  the  ceremonies. 

Meanwhile  all  the  great  cities  of  the  country  signified  their  wish 
to  pay  him  honors.  San  Francisco  urged  him  to  come  home  that 
way,  and  promised  him  a  magnificent  welcome  that  should  be 
repeated  in  all  the  interior  cities  along  the  line  of  his  travel  across 
the  continent.  Washington  and  Philadelphia  desired  his  presence 
at  their  peace  jubilees  in  the  spring  of  LS',)'.),  and  failing  that  show- 
ered honors  upon  Captam  Coghlan,  of  the  Raleigh,  one  of  his  fel- 
low victors  at  Manila.  Chicago  planned  an  enormous  celebration 
of  the  admiral  and  his  victory  for  the  autumn,  and  has  not  ceased 
to  insist  that  he  shall  accept  the  city's  hospitality,  Avhile  New  York 
arranged  and  has  carried  out,  founded  upon  the  public  appropriation 
of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  the  greatest  "tri- 
umph" ever  given  to  a  military  hero  in  the  United  States,  assuming, 
with  the  consent  of  the  rest  of  the  United  States,  to  make  itself  the 
representative  of  the  whole  grateful  country,  and  of  tlie  government. 

It  was  intended  that  this  official,  popular,  and  universal  welcome 
should  take  place  in  the  early  summer,  for  it  was  supposed  that  the 
commander  and  his  flagship  would  come  directly  home.  Admiral 
Dewey,  however,  had  been  for  some  time  in  poor  health,  feeling  the 
strain  of  his  long  residence  and  great  responsibility  and  work  in  the 
tropics,  and  needed  rest.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  none  of  the  suc- 
cesses and  honors  heaped  upon  him,  pleasant,  grateful  and  higlily 
appreciated  as  they  were,  turned  the  head  of  this  simple-miuded 
and  truly  great  man,  or  caused  him  to  be  puffed  up.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  dreaded  and  avoided  rather  than  courted  the  public  honors  the 
people  sought  to  heap  upon  him,  and  was  desirous  to  postpone  rather 
than  hasten  them.  Consequently  he  announced  that  he  intended  to 
consume  the  summer  in  a  slow  voyage  home  in  his  historic  flagship, 
resting  himself  and  his  officers  at  various  ports  by  the  way,  and 
would  reach  the  United  States  in  the  pleasant  autumn  weather. 

Pursuant  to  this  programme,  the  Olympia  halted  first  at  Hong- 
kong, where  the  admiral  dwelt  for  some  time  on  shore,  accepting 
the  honors  paid  him  by  the  governor  of  the  colony,  but  avoiding 
social  gayety  on  the  plea  of  poor  health.  A  brief  halt  was  made  at 
Singapore,  and  a  longer  one  at  Colombo,  Ceylon,  where  the  most 


62  LIFE   OF   DEWEY 

coruplimentary  treatment  was  received  from  both  the  authorities  and 
people  of  these  British  colonies.  The  Olympia  then  sailed  direct  to 
the  Mediterranean,  and  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Trieste,  at  the 
head  of  the  Adriatic.  It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  the  Aus- 
trian Government,  alwaj's  closely  allied  with  Spain,  would  welcome 
"the  hero  of  Cavite"  officially;  but  the  authorities  of  this  fine 
naval  port,  and  the  Austrian  naval  officers  present,  joined  with  the 
American  diplomatic  representatives  there  in  paying  the  greatest 
possible  attention  to  the  Americans  personally,  and  banquets  and 
shore  excursions  testified  to  the  admiration  in  which  they  were  held. 

Thence  the  Olympia  went  to  Naples,  where  the  admiral  of  the 
Italian  Navy  welcomed  Dewey  with  extraordinary  cordiality,  and 
did  so  much  to  honor  him  and  contribute  to  his  enjoyment  and  that 
of  his  crew  that  Italy  came  near  to  offending  Spain  by  it.  Tearing 
themselves  away  from  this  beautiful  and  hospitable  city,  the  Olym- 
pia next  halted  at  Leghorn,  where  similar  honors  were  repeated  with 
scarcely  less  effusion,  and  a  stay  of  Severn  1  days  was  made. 

The  next  stopping  place  was  at  Yille  Franche,  near  Nice,  France, 
and  thence  the  Olympia  steamed  to  Gibraltar.  This  British  fort- 
ress-colonj'  at  the  entrance  to  the  Mediterranean  exerted  itself  to 
honor  and  please  the  great  American  admiral,  whom  the  English 
regard  as  almost  one  of  themselves,  and  whom  they  felt  hound  to 
treat  with  the  utmost  courtesy  as  representing  all  Great  Britain;  for 
the  admiral  had  felt  it  wise  to  decline  the  invitation  of  the  English 
people  to  come  to  London,  and  there  be  entertained.  It  is  probable 
that  no  visitor  was  ever  received  at  Gibraltar  with  greater  hearti- 
ness than  was  Admiral  Dewe}'. 

The  end  of  September  is  now  approaching,  and  at  last  the  prow 
of  the  grand  old  battleship  can  be  turned  toward  the  Atlantic  and 
home.  She  has  long  ago  put  off  the  grim  war  gray  which  she  had 
worn  so  well  in  the  face  of  shot  and  shell,  land  batteries  and  sea 
batteries,  torpedoes  and  typhoons,  and  is  shining  in  white  and  gold. 
Day  and  night  she  proudly  puts  aside  the  blue  Atlantic  waves,  and 
presses  homeward  with  impatient  speed.  At  last  the  beloved  shores 
rise  sloAvly  upon  the  horizon  ahead,  and  the  good  ship  springs  for- 
ward with  renewed  eagerness.  Every  staff  and  halliard  blossoms 
into  flags  and  signals  of  rejoicing  that  her  perilous  exile  is  over, 
her  work  done,  and  that  now  she  is  coming  home  clothed  with  honor 
and  victory.  The  starry  ensign  floats  in  litpiid  folds  from  her  stern ; 
and  high  above  all  is  the  broad  blue  banner  with  its  diamond  of 
four  white  stars,  indicating  that  she  carries  the  ranking  officer, 
the  most  honored  and  beloved  man  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States 
of  America — 

ADMIRAL  GEORGE  DEWEY. 


100,000   {S01^r>  t  NOT  GIVEN  AWAY  ! 

The  United  States  Navy  Illustrated. 


A  Series  of  over  Fifty  Reproductions  from  recent 

photographs  and  drawings  by  C.  McKnight  Smith. 

New  edilioff  from  New  Set  of  Plates— including  recent  additions  to  Navy— JUST  READY. 


I 


THE 

l/NITED 


TATE5 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  VESSELS. 


ALABAMA. 

BROOKLYN. 

DETROIT. 

KATAHDIN. 

MIANTONOMAH. 

OREGON. 

STILETTO. 

AMPHITRITE. 

BUFFALO. 

DOLPHIN. 

KEARSARGE. 

MINNEAPOLIS. 

PETREL. 

ANNAPOLIS. 

CASTINE. 

DUPONT. 

KENTUCKY. 

MONTGOMERY. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

ATLANTA. 

CHARLESTON. 

ERICSSON. 

MACHIAS. 

MORRIS. 

BALTIMORE. 

CINCINNATI. 

GWIN. 

MAINE. 

NEWARK. 

BANCROFT. 

COLUMBIA. 

HELENA. 

MARBLEHEAD. 

NEW  ORLEANS. 

CONCORD. 

ILLINOIS. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

NEWPORT. 

RALEIGH. 

BOSTON, 

GUSHING. 

INDIANA. 
IOWA. 

MAYFLOWER. 

NEW  YORK. 
OLYMPIA. 

SAN  FRANCISCO 

From  the  Boston  Herald.—"  It  is  the  best  individual  publication  of  pictures  ot  American  warships  that 
has  appeared.  The  prints  are  half-toues,  the  most  important  ones  being  full  page,  large  enough  to  frame. 
All  of  them,  without  exception,  are  artistic,  clear  as  to  small  details,  and  faithful  in  representation. 

Printed  on  plate  paper,  32  pages.  10x8  inches  in  size.     Bound  in  heavy  azure  bristol  board,  with 
cover  in  two  colors,  showing  headon  view  of  the  new  "  Kearsarge,"  the  latest  type  of  battle  ship. 

SENT  POST-PAID  ON  RECEIPT  OP 
PRICE  BY... 

J, 


PRICE,  25  CENTS. 


R.   MURPHV, 

Southern  Terminal  Station,  BOSTON, 


riASS.